All that glitters is not gold

Tony Becca, ON THE BOUNDARY

The 2011 West Indies domestic cricket season came to an end recently and, from all accounts, from every angle and whatever way you wish to look at it, Jamaica were successful, even dominant.

Simply put, Jamaica were the best in the West Indies.

Jamaica won the mens regional four-day title, they won the Under-19 title, and they won the Under-15 title. They won the womens title, they won the Blind title, and although they failed to win any of the limited-overs titles, even though those are so cherished around the world these days, the leagues represent the pick of the lot, the best in cricket.

Jamaicans, the cricket part of Jamaica, are jumping with joy, and in a way, they deserve to be celebrating. Five titles out of five in the leagues spread across the different age groups, genders, and even the Blind is dominance, the sort of dominance which could only have been better had Jamaica won everything, including the limited-overs titles.

wary of the celebration

While Jamaica celebrate their successes, however, there are those who are wary of the celebration, and they are wary because as good as Jamaica believe they are, as successful and as dominant as they think they are, they are part of the West Indies.

The West Indies, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, once at the top and looking down at all below them, are sitting at the bottom of world cricket and looking up at almost every other team.

In other words, and as I have said before, it is one thing to be the best of the best, or to be the best of those who are among the best, and to celebrate that achievement than to be the best of the worst of them and to celebrate.

Although there is some satisfaction in celebrating any achievement, achievements must or should be rated, and there should be and must be a difference between celebrations.

Despite winning all those titles, Jamaicas cricket is poor, and probably that is why Jamaica did not win even one of the limited-overs titles.

Jamaicas cricket is poor because the administration of Jamaicas cricket, from the schools, through the clubs and parishes, to the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA), is poor, and it has not been poor this season alone.

It has been poor for a few seasons now.

The world of cricket has been changing for years now. More and more the world has been playing limited-overs cricket, and regardless of whether you like limited-overs cricket or not, once you are in cricket, once you are competing, you have got to play more limited-overs cricket.

It is as simple as that.

Not only has Jamaica not been playing more limited-overs cricket, Jamaica has been playing less limited-overs cricket. In fact, in club cricket, the base of Jamaicas cricket, there has been less and less cricket in recent years.

This year, for example, there was a club/parish league in which some clubs and parishes played a mere four matches. Some clubs and parishes played only five matches, four clubs played as little as five or six matches, and two clubs and parishes played six or seven matches in a competition which lasted, for some clubs and parishes, four weekends, or for the fortunate two, seven weekends.

no competition

Up to now, towards the end of August, there has been no Junior Cup competition, no Minor Cup competition, and more important, there has been no 50-over competition, no Twenty20 competition, and there has been no word about either of them.

No one knows if they will be played.

The JCA says it has no money, and that the private sector does not provide them with any money.

It is common knowledge, however, that the private sector does not trust the JCA and the JCA needs to change that perception. The JCA needs to get out on the streets like every other association, national or not, and sell itself.

It needs to change its image and influence people.

The JCA needs to aggressively seek funding, big and small funding, and from big companies and small companies.

Cricket, despite what some will say, is still a big sport in this country. What cricketers do, and say, still means something in this country, particularly West Indies cricketers, and cricket deserves good leadership.

Cricket deserves directors who direct things in the interest of cricket.

Jamaicas cricket do not deserve directors who see an opportunity to use their positions as directors as a springboard to other positions, such as to become a member of the West Indies board, manager of national teams, or even selectors of national teams.

The directors of the JCA were elected to run Jamaicas cricket, not to parade themselves as selectors, etcetera, etcetera. Their job is to find and select qualified people for such jobs and to assess them when they have done their jobs.

Wavell Hinds is a nice guy, a guy who loves cricket, knows cricket, and is committed to Jamaica and to West Indies, but has he retired from first-class cricket?

If Hinds has retired it must be uncomfortable being a member of the JCA and an officer of the West Indies Players Association, and if he has not retired, it is unusual being a national player and a manager of the national Under-19 team.

Those are some of the things which detract from Jamaicas successes this season, and with the West Indies Board, regardless of what their members say about a five-year plan, tinkering with the competitions year after year in the hope of a quick fix, they do not include the changes in the competitions each year and the inclusion of foreign teams who cannot win the competitions, the inclusion of teams like the High Performance Centre (HPC), the Combined Colleges and Campuses (CCC), and the West Indies Youths playing with the territories in territorial competitions.

They, however, include the unnecessary fiddling with the Under-15 competition.

The restriction of young fast bowlers to a specific number of overs per spell is a good thing, and one point for each wicket taken by a fast bowler may be something else entirely.

What is difficult to understand, however, what, from reports, some of the coaches, managers, and captains found difficult to understand is the format, the format introduced this year, under which the Under-15 competition was played.

To many of the coaches, managers, and captains, although the matches were played over two days, even though they were played over two innings, they did not know whether they were one-day or two-day matches.

limiting the innings

Some people thought they were two one-day matches played over two days with the number of overs limiting the innings on the first occasion and time limiting the innings the second time around.

According to the rules, each team batting in their first innings was limited to a maximum of 30 overs. When the first innings were completed the time remaining in the match was divided by two, each team was given an equal time to bat, and at the end, the team with the most runs, the total of both innings, was the winner.

In this format, in this type of cricket, the teams are not allowed to declare, and no team is allowed to enforce the follow-on.

Something is amiss with West Indies cricket, but making changes year after year, weakening the competition by bringing in the HPC team, the CCC team, and the West Indies Youth team, bringing in foreign teams, and playing a competition which is not a competition, along with the politicking in the national associations, headed by the JCA, will not change things.