Tony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
ACCORDING TO the International Cricket Conference's ratings, the West Indies, not so long ago the best in the world, are ranked at number eight, they are above only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, and that is embarrassing.
According to a number of West Indians, however, including captain Brian Lara and board president, Wes Hall, that will soon change and the reason for their optimism is the number of young, talented players in the team and waiting in the wings.
The young players wearing the West Indies cap are batsmen Christopher Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith and Daren Ganga, fast bowlers Jermaine Lawson and Tino Best, offspinner Omari Banks, wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh Jnr. and allrounder David Bernard Jnr.
Behind them are batsmen like Kurt Wilkinson, Sew Deonarine and Dave Bravo, a left-arm spinner like Dave Mohammed, a fast bowler like Jerome Taylor and there is no question about it - they are all talented.
Talent, however, is only a part, a small part of what is necessary for success at the highest level. Good discipline, dedication, commitment, pride in performance, and the ambition to be the best - the drive to achieve excellence - are far more important, the combination of all those things is what makes players rise to greatness, with the exception of a few, that is what is lacking in the young players, and for them to become great, they have to change their attitude.
So far, the young players seem to be contented with the fact that they are talented - whatever that is, they seem to be satisfied with mediocre performances.
That is why they do not train and practice as much and as seriously as they should, that is why they do not listen, and although every man should control his own destiny, if West Indies are to really benefit from the abundance of "talent" that is around, the time has come for the West Indies Board to do something about the attitude of the players.
The Board, for example, has been spending a lot of money on coaches, on specialised clinics and on camps, and regardless of what some may say, that, so far, has been a waste of money.
As Andy Roberts, the great fast bowler of yesteryear, a former coach of the West Indies team and now one who is used for special assignments, said just a few days ago, the players are not listening to the coaches; and as Rohan Kanhai will confirm, as Malcolm Marshall would have confirmed if he was alive, that is a fact.
It is time, therefore, that the Board does something about it or stop wasting money that could be better spent elsewhere - such as in the schools and in the clubs where habits are formed.
The problem, as Roberts explained, is that the players do not believe in a coach, that they are not willing to accept advice and instructions, and that some players "think that they are above being spoken to and do as they please".
Roberts went on to say that may be they cannot be coached and do not accept what the coach says because they were never coached before, because they were never told what to do, and may be that is the problem.
Whatever it is, there is a problem, because of that, in most cases talent is not being converted into the ability to perform, because of that, West Indies cricket is suffering, and as the one who pays the coaches and who pays the players, it is time the West Indies board insists that the players listen to the coach or else.
The reason why the West Indies are at the bottom of the rankings is not because they do not possess "talented" players. It is because they make too many simple mistakes while batting, bowling and fielding, the simple reason for that is because they listen to no one, because they do not work hard enough to fully develop their skills, and the Board should make them listen and work towards the improvement of their game.
In the past, the Board has removed good coaches because instead of listening and working, the players complained about the coaches' attitude towards them and the Board listened to the players and not to the coaches who were only attempting to do their job.
The time has come for the Board to listen to the coaches, and what the coaches are saying, what they have been saying, is this: let the players listen to us.
The players, all of them but particularly the young ones, should have only one choice: they should listen to the coach - a man of experience, a man who, most times, has been to the war and back, a man whose job is to analyse and to assist - or go about their business.
In the beginning, some may fall by the wayside. In the long run, however, such an approach should be better for West Indies cricket as the young, talented players would become good players - some of them possibly even great players.
