Tony Becca - FROM THE BOUNDARY GUYANA have selected Shivnarine Chanderpaul as their captain for the Red Stripe Bowl which gets under way on Wednesday and not surprisingly, some Guyanese, including the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB), have been raising hell.
Earlier this year, the West Indies Cricket Board, on the recommendation of its selectors, named Ramnaresh Sarwan, a Guyanese, as Brian Lara's vice-captain, and the reason for the row in Guyana is simple. Some people believe that as the West Indies vice-captain Sarwan should be automatically the captain of Guyana.
As logical as that may seem, it does not follow, not in this situation, that because Sarwan is the West Indies vice-captain he should be Guyana's captain.
According to the West Indies selectors, there is a lack of players with leadership skills, the West Indies need to groom someone to take over from Lara, despite his lack of experience at any level they decided to go with a young man who, based on his skills as a batsman, appears destined to be in the team for a long time, and as far as West Indies cricket is concerned nothing is basically wrong with that.
If things go according to plan, Sarwan will not be called upon to lead the West Indies for some time, and by then he will be matured and should be ready to do so.
BEST MAN FOR THE JOB
As far as Guyana are concerned, however, like the West Indies when they selected Lara as their captain, they need a captain now, they want the best man for the job, they have selected who they consider the best man for the job, and it should be as simple as that.
Not so says the DCB, however. According to it, the Guyana Cricket Board's decision to recall Chanderpaul and not to select Sarwan is not only "unbelievable, ludicrous and autocratic", but can also "sow the seeds of disunity between these two illustrious heroes and is definitely not what is desired at this stage of West Indies cricket development."
If that is so, then despite their good intentions and even if it was not unbelievable and ludicrous, the selection of the young, untried and inexperienced Sarwan as the West Indies vice-captain over the more experienced Chanderpaul by the WICB and its selectors was equally autocratic and just as likely to sow the seeds of disunity between the two players.
The selection of Sarwan as the vice-captain despite his lack of experience was, however, not surprising - not when it is remembered the many times the West Indies selectors have attempted to tell national selectors, certainly Jamaica's selectors, who, in the best interest of West Indies cricket, to select.
While all the territories should always consider what is best for West Indies cricket, they also must operate in the best interest of their own cricket, and although the West Indies selectors would like to see only young, promising players in the regional competitions, they have a responsibility to select, in their opinion, the best players, including the best captains, to represent them.
DEVELOPMENT OF PLAYERS
According to the West Indies selectors, winning the regional tournament is not important and too many territories place too much importance on winning at the expense of West Indies cricket. According to them, what is important is the development of players for the West Indies team.
Winning, obviously, is not all, it should not be all, and the development of players for the West Indies team is important - very important.
The development of players, however, include the honing of skills, good competition, physical and mental toughness, and if winning is not important, the territories will not provide proper facilities and players will not train and practice in order to perform. In fact, if winning not is important, players are unlikely to be motivated to perform - to demonstrate the qualities that lead to good performances.
Apart from the benefit of playing with and against good, experienced players, another reason why winning is important is because everyone loves a winner, no one likes a loser, and if a team loses continuously, it will be short of spectators and sponsors.
On top of that, West Indies cricket will be guaranteed a strong team, not if winning competitions do not matter, but if every team, at all levels, from school through club to territorial, play to win at all times.
That is why, in the interest of West Indies cricket, each territory should play to win and should therefore select, in their opinion, their best players and their best captain.
