SC Claude Denbow: WI crisis can spark change

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Avid cricket fan, Senior Counsel Claude Denbow, believes the current crisis in West Indies cricket can force the necessary changes that will see the team in maroon rise again.

In a press release issued yesterday, Denbow, who has followed Windies cricket for over 60 years, explained that the debacle of the abandoned tour of India was long coming.

In letters to the press in April/May 1995 as well as January 1999, Denbow articulated on the collapse of regional cricket which went unheeded.

The following are excerpts of Denbow’s latest letter to the media entitled “Can the Decline of West Indian Cricket be Reversed.”



Can the Decline of West Indian Cricket be Reversed?

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the withdrawal of the West Indian Cricket Team from the Tour of India, which should have been taking place now, is one of the most significant tragedies to have befallen cricket in its 86-year history. At the same time the opportunity has been presented to save West Indian cricket from its eventual demise by the removal of the present governance structure in the form of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and its replacement by the new structure as recommended by the Patterson Report since October 2007.

It is not the purpose of this article to apportion blame by percentages since all of the major actors, i.e. the WICB, WIPA and the players must all share the blame. Instead the purpose of this article is to remind the West Indian cricketing public that this tragedy has been in the works for at least 2 decades or more. What has happened in the last few weeks is the culmination of multiple missteps by a dysfunctional WICB, which under its present structure is unlikely ever to be able to act in the best interests of West Indian cricket.



Dare to Face the Truth

We have to face the harsh reality that West Indian cricket as we know it is unlikely to be the same again, and has been undoubtedly in a mode of irreversible decline for almost 20 years. A reminder is necessary, because in these islands we have the infinite capacity to deny the truth and to live in a state of almost permanent denial of harsh reality. When confronted by a fundamental crisis we delude ourselves into believing that a few meetings, where the main actors are pictured smiling and shaking hands followed with a news release saying that the problem has been solved, will actually be an end of the matter. Hence we should not fool ourselves into believing that the announced solution emanating from the meetings at the Hyatt Hotel in Port-of-Spain on 31st October, 2014 will solve the problem.



Brief History of the Decline

I have been an avid follower of West Indian cricket for over 60 years. Having paid rapt attention to the glory days of 1976 to 1995 when I was in ecstasy watching, either in person or on television, the performances of the great West Indian players of that era, I was similarly angry at the decline which set in after 1995 and sought to write about it in a series of articles between 1995 and 2000 which were published in the local press.

In April 1995 I wrote a letter to the local Press entitled “West Indian Cricket in Crisis” in which it was stated as follows:

“As an ardent supporter and follower of West Indian cricket ever since the age of 5, I write to express my grave concern about the immediate future of the West Indian Cricket team in the light of the appalling performance in the First Test at Kensington Oval. The concern does not relate to the fact that we lost but to the manner of the loss. The lack of preparation, commitment, discipline and determination were clearly manifested by too many of the players of the team both on and off the field. It would neither be hysterical nor hyperbolic but indeed an understatement to state that unless serious and firm action is taken promptly both by the West Indies Cricket Board of Control (WICBC) and the Selection Panel, then the immediate future for the West Indies team is not bright.”

In May 1995 I wrote “West Indian Cricket in Crisis: Part 2” in which it was stated:

“Unfortunately one’s worst fears have been confirmed with the emphatic defeat administered by the Australians in the Fourth Test in Jamaica. It is a state of affairs with respect to which the writer, among the thousands of ardent West Indian cricket supporters, inevitably mourns. The reasons for the humiliating defeat have been eloquently set out in an Article headed “Dare to Face the Truth” by the eminent West Indian cricket writer and commentator, Tony Cozier in the Sunday Express of 7th May, 1995.

In his article Mr Cozier asserts that there is enough evidence for the WICBC “to mount an enquiry into the ignominious end of a glorious era in International cricket”. The writer could not agree more! Without such an enquiry it would mean that the Board is turning a blind eye to what may now be regarded as the most disastrous debacle in modern West Indian cricket history.”

In January 1999 after returning from the disastrous South African Tour I wrote another letter to the Press entitled “The Lost Generation in West Indian Cricket” in which it was stated:

“Over the Christmas holidays, the writer, along with over one hundred and fifty (150) other ardent West Indian cricket supporters from all the islands, had the opportunity to witness the 3rd and 4th Test in Durban and Cape Town during the West Indies cricket tour of South Africa.

Having stayed in the same hotels with the team in those 2 cities; spoken to and interacted with most of the players, officials and cricket journalists on the tour and being an eye witness to some of the events both on and off the field, the writer is in a position to provide informed comment on the present state of affairs in West Indies cricket.

It would neither be an exaggeration nor an unkind comment to describe the present West Indian cricket team as “The Lost Generation”. By this I mean, that as a consequence of the attitude and disposition of the present team, they are going to continue to be beaten in Test cricket by most other teams and continue to denigrate the heard earned reputation of West Indian cricket should they be allowed to continue to play for the West Indies .

One takes no pleasure in being a prophet of doom and gloom but we must face up to the harsh reality of the present position. It should be pointed out that the writing has been on the wall for some years now. Yet nothing has been done to rectify the position.

It is the writer’s fear that unless a serious plan of corrective action is formulated and implemented over the next few years, there is a grave risk that West Indian cricket can go into “irreversible decline”.”