Editorial | Dissolve Cricket West Indies, start anew

First, this newspaper owes its readers, especially the West Indian family of cricket lovers and enthusiasts, a mea culpa. We were wrong when we rejected what we called the ‘throw-the-bums-out’ tone of Professor Eudine Barriteau’s report on the management of West Indies cricket.

It is now clear that the piecemeal, internal reforms, even with a level of external oversight of Cricket West Indies (CWI), as was proposed in Don Wehby’s 2020 report, and largely embraced by this newspaper, is inadequate and unlikely to cause a rejuvenation of West Indies cricket. So, while we welcome the promise of CWI’s President, Ricky Skerritt, of a “thorough post-mortem” of the West Indies’ humiliating ouster from the T20 Cricket World Cup in Australia last week, the situation demands far more.

We will, of course, be reminded that this team was at the helm when the West Indies squeaked past England with a 1-0 Test series win, and a 2-0 defeat of Bangladesh. We are nonetheless surprised that the team’s coach, Phil Simmons, and his support staff did not offer their en bloc resignation. That would be the decent thing to do, even if they were asked to hold on until after the post-World Cup, two-Test series against Australia. Similarly, Nicholas Pooran, the hapless captain of the T20 misadventure, should have immediately done what is eventually inevitable by relinquishing the job.

More consequentially, Mr Skerritt and his deputy and acolyte, Dr Kishore Shallow, as well as CWI’s CEO, the Englishman Johnny Grave, should also resign, allowing for the appointment of an interim management team, pending the dissolution of Cricket West Indies and the creation of a new administrative body for the game in the region. Regional governments that support the domestic cricket bodies, which own CWI, we now agree, must tell these associations that nothing less is feasible.

ANGER

Mr Skerritt said he understands the region’s disappointment and “utter frustration” over what happened in Australia. He, however, mischaracterised the emotion. What West Indian cricket lovers feel is anger – the bursting of the cumulation of many disappointments and prolonged frustrations.

While the proximate cause are the events at the T20 World Cup, the problems are far deeper. First, West Indies cricket has declined so badly that the region was not among the eight Test-playing countries that, based on their points standing, automatically qualified for the tournament. The West Indies, once the superpower of the sport, were forced to compete among the minnows and second-tier countries for a place.

We were, however, embarrassed by Scotland’s mostly part-time cricketers. We got past perennially struggling Zimbabwe, primarily because the Africans could not manage the pace bowling of Alzarri Joseph. Then came the humiliation by Ireland. Given a relatively small 146 to win, they reached the score with 15 balls to spare. But for Brandon King, the West Indian batsmen performed poorly in all matches.

Mr Skerritt blamed the failure on the “ongoing inability of our batsmen to prevail against spin bowling” and their “untimely shot selections”. Phil Simmons, who, since 2019, is in his second stint as head coach, agreed that the batting did not perform despite the team’s preparation. He said, “We’ve got to go back and look at our structure and how we play the game, and make sure that when we come to competitions and when we play in bilateral series, we are ready and able to do what’s necessary for each situation of the game.”

NO RESPONSIBILITY

In that statement, Mr Simmons takes no responsibility and acknowledges no accountability. Indeed, it is at one with the clichés of coaches, captains and team managers over more than two decades after every poor performance. They are always “going back to the drawing board” or, on the flipside, optimists perceiving the West Indies “turning the corner” every time it cobbles a victory. But nothing fundamentally changes.

There seems to be among players, coaches and management an incapacity for either reflection or introspection. And on the strength of Mr Skerritt’s observation, there is, too, an ability of players to intellectually deconstruct their games to determine what needs rebuilding and/or repair.

Nor does it seem that there is among current West Indian players, or their recent predecessors, any sense of history about West Indies cricket and its place in Caribbean society. There is nothing larger than themselves. That is an institutional failure.

When Mr Skerritt wrested the presidency of Cricket West Indies from Dave Cameron in early 2019, his promise was to rebuild West Indies cricket. The team might not consistently win – not immediately. Nobody expected that. But there would be a way that the game was approached and spoken about by players and managers that suggested transformation. That is not our sense of what is happening. The humiliation in Australia reinforces that perception. Transformative action is unlikely within the game’s existing governing structure.

Mr Skerritt said last week that “West Indies cricket is bigger than any one individual or event, and continues to need the input and support of all stakeholders”. That is why Mr Skerritt should take action to facilitate the necessary transformation. He and his team should go. In that regard, the Barriteau report should be revisited.