THE EDITOR, Madam:
I COULD go on about the many ills of West Indies cricket but there are some that really have impact:
Lack of professional administrators manning the key positions in the WICB hierarchy. Just because you played doesn't mean you are a good administrator.
Lack of planning in the preparation both before and during tours. It is quite clear that there is no plan for the individuals in the team. Players go to practice with no plan on what they are working on. Garbage in garbage out.
The current team members are professional sportsmen who do not understand what professionalism is. These players do not understand the history of the game or the sociological/geopolitical importance of cricket to the people of the Caribbean.
Many of the current team do not know the history of the game and have no appreciation of the legacy they are now destroying.
Here are some solutions:
Hire professional administrators to manage the board's affairs.
Players need to have individual performance improvement plans which is documented and updated daily so that improvement/work can be tracked and assessed.
Players need to be taught the history of the game but also need to be taught how to handle the press, success, failure and finances. We do not need a repeat of the Brian Lara headcase story brought about by too much success too early.
These solutions will not bring results in the Sydney test today, but it will turn the ship in the right direction.
West Indies have many great players of the last 30 years in the different islands who if co-ordinated could add significant value to the resurgence of the game.
Let's get them involved in a co-ordinated way as individual countries working unco-ordinated will only prolong all our suffering.
Regards from Down and Out in Australia/
I am etc.,
DOUG LINDSAY
E-mail:
douglin@hotmail.com
27-108 Crimea Road
Marsfield, NSW
Australia
Via Go-Jamaica
