Someone has to be held accountable
By Tony Cozier In GRENADA
Stabroek News
April 11, 2007
And so it has come to a predictable and pathetic pass.
Fifteen individuals purporting to be the West Indies cricket team, the majority demonstrably keener on enjoying the material things of life than concentrating on the mission for which they have been handsomely paid and stymied by ineffective leadership and weak management, yesterday slipped out of the first World Cup to come to the Caribbean.
Their problems have been compounded by the indecisiveness of their own board in allowing the issue of their contracts to drag on until after the tournament started and in failing to add a specialist fitness trainer and fielding coach to their support staff.
Such troubles are not new. They have been a constant feature contributing to the steady decline of West Indies cricket over the past decade.
But this was a special occasion, the game's premier event on home soil, surely incentive enough for the turning of the corner so repeatedly envisaged by the host of hopeful supporters.
The early encouragement of an efficient victory over Pakistan that led to the top of the group stage proved another illusion.
The campaign subsequently degenerated into mediocrity, characterised by confused selections, strange tactics and, most of all, a disregard for discipline, both on and off the field.
The consequence were losses to Australia and Sri Lanka by over 100 runs and, yesterday, South Africa by 87 and previously, New Zealand by seven wickets.
Such opponents have set standards by which all teams are judged but the West Indies have fallen short of even the levels of Bangladesh and Ireland.
Seasoned observers were shocked by the lack of intensity and direction at their practice and their training sessions.
It was repeatedly reflected in the slipshod fielding, as it was again yesterday with missed run outs and the gifting of unearned runs.
It was shown up in the flagging fitness and concentration in the sunshine that led to the leaking of 134 runs from the last 10 overs of South Africa's innings.
To these deficiencies have been added the nocturnal activities of many of the players.
Tales of West Indian cricketers seen out until the wee hours of the morning before matches are not new. Often, they are no more than gossip and tittle-tattle ignored by any management certain of its control.
In this tournament, of all tournaments, they have been too frequent and from too wide a cross-section of the public, among them leaders of government, to be ignored.
A report, confirmed by police here, that one player was confronted by a gun-toting patron at a nightclub in Grenada earlier in the week further highlighted the issue.
It is one of the riffle of subjects that must be prominent in the official review that should urgently follow the tournament. Someone has to be held accountable.