Tony Becca
THE OLD year is history, the new year is with us, and last night, as the clock struck midnight, millions of people from all walks of life right around the world, including the West Indies, made a wish or two - some for good health, some for wealth and some for more wealth.
For cricket fans in the West Indies, however, their wish must have been for some good cricket by their ambassadors - for a change in the performance of the West Indies team.
POOR PERFORMANCE
After a year in which they won only one Test match while losing eight and drawing two - a year in which they lost 2-0 to South Africa, drew their two-match series with Pakistan 1-1, lost both matches to Sri Lanka and all three to Australia, the West Indies are scheduled to take on New Zealand in New Zealand, Zimbabwe (hopefully) in the West Indies, India in the West Indies and, after participating in the ICC Champions Trophy in India, Pakistan in Pakistan.
In years gone by, all those teams would have been easy pickings for the West Indies. Such has been the poor performance of the team in the past 10 years, however, that the only one West Indian fans will back the West Indies to defeat is Zimbabwe.
The West Indies team in fact has fallen to the extent that with the top six of the 10 Test-playing teams gaining automatic qualification to the ICC Champions Trophy, with the bottom four having to qualify, with the West Indies ranked at number eight and the cut off point being March 31, the one-time kings of the limited-overs version of the game seem destined to end up, not only in the preliminary round and fighting for a place in the main draw with Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Kenya, but also with the likes of Bermuda, Canada, Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands.
UNITY
Apart from wishing for better leadership from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and for some support for the clubs, the fans must also have wished for some unity in the team, for some solid, consistent performances from their batsmen, for some improved fielding and catching, and most importantly, for some quality bowlers.
I also made a wish last night - a wish that included all the above and one more.
Included in my wish to the gods was a plea, not only for a good spin bowler, but also that they will make the selectors see the importance of finding one, and that in searching for one, or two, or three, the selectors, as they have done with a host of average fast bowlers in recent times, will encourage them, not only by selecting them for a match or two, but also by giving them an opportunity, a good run, to develop their craft.
And when I say spin bowlers, I do not mean slow bowlers. I mean bowlers who can spin the ball, bowlers who, preferably, can spin it both ways, and bowlers who, obsessed with the craft, can bemuse and mesmerise batsmen, not only with the degree of spin, not only with different spins, not only with the bounce of the ball, but also with their variation in line, length and flight.
The rest of the world, certainly Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, England, Australia and New Zealand, have seen the importance of spin bowlers.
SPIN BOWLERS
Those countries have benefited from playing good spin bowlers and despite their history of fast bowlers, in spite of the part they have played in the greatness of West Indies cricket, it is time, high time, the West Indies remove the blinkers - especially as they are no longer blessed with bowlers of speed and skill, especially as the pitches around the world are getting slower and slower.
On top of that, a spin bowler offers a captain something different, something extra - and especially if he is a legspinner who can exploit the rough caused by fast bowlers who generally bowl right-arm from over the wicket, that something extra can be the difference between winning and losing a match - between winning and losing a series.
