One way and one way alone

One way and one way alone

Vinode Mamchan
Published: Guardian
Saturday, June 27, 2015

West Indies cricket has been on the decline since 1990. Some people like to say that it has been declining since the unbeaten reign ended in 1995 against Australia but I would like to differ.

In my humble view, West Indies cricket started to decline around 1990, when the stars were starting to go out and the replacements coming in represented the lack of vision by the then West Indies Cricket Board. While we were beating up the world, we never prepared for the future, we never thought it important to put development plans in the works so that we could continue to put out quality players.

We thought that just by being named a West Indian you would come into the world of cricket and represent quality. While we were negligent the world was looking at ways and trying different things in coming up with a formula for success.

Today, we are ranked in the lower half of the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings in Test and ODI. We are in danger of missing the next Champions Trophy in 2017 by virtue of being borderline, currently ranked eight in the ODI standings with Pakistan trailing by just one point.

We are heading for minnow status at the moment and the once mighty West Indies is now seen as also rans.

During the just ended ICC Annual Conference in Barbados, I had the opportunity to speak to some of the delegates and that they all saying that the world needs a strong West Indies cricket team. They were all saying that West Indies were their favourite team outside of their country and that their heroes came from the West Indies back in the day.

There is no doubt that West Indies cricket is a unique brand the the game needs it, however the brand is diminishing and the powers at be must act and act decisively. For far too long we have been turning the corner only to go backwards.

The WICB has to took at cricket at the youth level and bring that up to quality for the game to rise again. While I am not against finding a top coach for the finished product, I am thinking that it is even more critical to get a top quality coach to work with the young cricketers.

In all the gloom there is at is still standing out and that is the High Performance Centre in Barbados. A number of the young cricketers currently on the West Indies team came through the HPC. Players like Kraigg Brathwaite, Shane Dowrich, Shai Hope, Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder. This tells me that the Centre is doing something positive. The WICB needs to invest heavily in top quality coaches who work well with young players. They must then allow the territorial boards to take in one of the these coaches on a full time basis and have them take players under their wings into academies in the respective countries.

A number of the young cricketers are now given retainers and they have to do a certain amount of work. Sometimes when show up to play for the West Indies and when you ask them if they were training, they would tell you yes.

On probing further you would realise that they go down to their local club and have anybody do some throw downs for them and this is what is called training.

If you have a coach working them with year round, he can keep abreast of their work and he can supervise their preparations going into any major series.

The WICB needs to wake up to this idea because it is not novel, it has been used in the bigger countries and it has worked well.

I am in favour of bringing in

foreign coaches for these jobs because we need a change in work culture. Our players are too laid back when it comes to training, so the WICB has to have met out of culture, coming here to impose that professional work ethic in our guys and then they could benefit

from what is on offer from the coaches.

We must have properly coached cricketers coming through the system, so when they go to the West Indies level, their coach at that level is more of a technical director. He must not have the headache of having to coach basics to cricketers. His job must be to strategise and give that extra edge to the player.

Whatever happens the world is waiting to see West Indies cricket get off life-support and back to good health. There are only 10 full member playing countries and the West Indies is key to attract fans to get involved as the ICC looks to build in terms of greater participation.   

well if the wurl so intristed tuh see we get up again why the wurl doh revolutionize west  indies society fuh we ::confused:: ::confused:: ::confused::

but since dat is we job to see and to do, deh cyar do it fuh we..the wurl.  so they have to wait..the wurl

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the wurl sabotaged us with Kolpak where we got our regular training ground !

when England County Cricket stabbed us , where was the wurl ? 

Mammaguy Mamchan dont know these things though : he just writes for a Rag  ::LOL::

all true....

Why do this woman, Chin :  repost this Crap ???  :-\