Preaching to the deaf

Every time I look at cricket in Jamaica and the West Indies recently, apart from the odd occasion, I feel empty in my stomach.

The odd times that I have not felt empty have been those occasions whenever I see one like Shai Hope batting; now and again whenever I see one like Kemar Roach; or one like Devendra Bishoo; or more regular, whenever I see one like Nikita Miller bowling; and also whenever I see one like Andre Russell in the field.

And it is not because I expect perfection, or near perfection, every time I go to watch cricket. It is because each time I go to see cricket of a certain level, I expect to see good cricket or cricket played intelligently.

Sometimes I go to T20 cricket, sometimes I go to one-day cricket, sometimes to two-day cricket, and sometimes I go to the longer versions of cricket - to first-class cricket and to Test cricket.

Importantly, however, whenever I go to T20 cricket, I go to have fun, to see the ball sailing over the boundary and to see some acrobatic and exciting fielding.

Whenever I go to see the longer versions of the game, however, I go to see cricket of high quality; and whenever I go to see Test cricket, I go to see cricket of the highest quality, meaning good, responsible batting, with good strokes, against good, probing, and crippling bowling, and against good, if not always brilliant, fielding.

Whenever I go to see good cricket, I do not expect to see batsmen attempting to play forward and not really playing forward; batsmen running with the bat in the wrong hand and also turning 'blind' batsmen getting run out whenever there is absolutely no need for quick runs, and batsmen swiping, 'hoping' to hit a six, and getting out caught on the boundary - if the ball travels that far.

It is also not to see batsmen getting caught on the boundary when they cannot possibly win the match and when everything points to them batting out time and using the opportunity to get a big score.

It is also, to me, poor captaincy whenever a team has left the opposition 300 runs to win a match with a little under two sessions to go, when it has already secured its place in the final of a two-day competition by virtue of first-innings lead, when it still has one more innings to bat if it needs to do so, and its fast bowler, one of the country's best prospects, is in action and is bowling with the new ball with six men on the boundary, including long-off, on the boundary, long-on, on the boundary, and a straight midwicket, on the boundary.

In my book, that is not only embarrassing to the fast bowler, but it should have been a glorious situation for the young fast bowler to be given three slips, a gully, a square cover, a forward short-leg, and a fine-leg and told to go and hit the edge of the batsman's bat or to scare the daylights out of him.

Later on in the match, shortly before the rain came tumbling down, and with the score on 48 without loss in the sixth over, a batsman, a Jamaica 'prospect', ran down the wicket, swung wildly at the spin bowler who opened the bowling, was stumped, and walked off the field quite contented.

 

PEDESTRIAN BOWLING

 

The bowling also is oftentimes pedestrian, with hardly any quality, or any attempt at quality.

One gets the impression that the fast bowlers tend to just run in and bowl with no idea, or thought, of length or direction, and the spin bowlers just bowl without any thought of mixing up the length, or the flight of the ball, or imparting a different spin, or of disguising the spin of the ball.

The fielding also is simply poor, from the schools, through the clubs, and up to the West Indies level.

The reality, it seems, is that the players are not coached - or are not coached properly. Either that or the players are not listening - or are not interested in improving their play.

The vast majority of 'coaches' in Jamaica and in the West Indies are hardly coaches. From my experiences, and based on what I have seen, most of the coaches are merely organisers, people who organise practice sessions, stand up at the other end of the pitch, and simply say when a batsman's time is up.

They seldom, if at all, attempt to correct the players, by word or deed, whenever the players do something wrong. Sometimes, the coaches are in awe of the players and especially those players who have represented the West Indies; sometimes they simply 'talk down' to young players; and most times, they say nothing at all.

Recently, Nehemiah Perry, a former Jamaica and West Indies player, was quoted as saying that there is a desperate need for more qualified coaches to help with the development of the sport in this country.

"It is serious. I am on Cricket West Indies cricket committee and it is a discussion that we have had for many years now," said Perry.

Perry did not say it, but that is a problem affecting all if not most of the West Indies, and it is a problem that has been aired several times in the past.

The lack of proper coaching is evident in West Indies cricket at all levels and in all areas. There is also the problem of the players not listening to the coaches.

Those who have eyes to see must see this: so often, too often, the West Indies team looks like a bunch of schoolboys in action, whether batting, bowling, or fielding.

Perry's words may fall on deaf ears, but apart from talking to Jamaica about this problem, he also should talk to, or remind, his West Indies committee of the problem.

Jamaica's cricket needs some good coaches, coaches who can communicate with the players; Cricket West Indies, since they see the necessity, needs to get some good coaches in the territories; and Cricket West Indies needs to employ some good coaches for the West Indies team, especially some good West Indian coaches, men who know what it is to be a West Indian, and especially those who know, or understand, what it means to be a West Indian cricketer.