-the WICB administrators and selectors should resign
It is extremely painful and unacceptable for the Caribbean cricketing fraternity to accept a West Indies cricket team that excludes our most loyal, reliable and dependable batsman — Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Further, the non- inclusion of Ramnaresh Sarwan, who is only thirty (30) years old and is certainly the best batsman in the Caribbean, is an insult to young Sarwan and is blatant discrimination and evidence of a biased selection policy. Further, it cannot be denied that Chris Gayle is presently one of the best opening batsmen in the world.
This insularity in West Indies cricket must stop now!
The Caribbean countries spent millions of hard-earned tax payers’ dollars to build national stadiums and host the 2007 World Cup. Again, money and human resources were invested to host the ICC Twenty/20 tournament in the Caribbean recently.
However, West Indies cricket continues to deteriorate so rapidly that we are now at the very bottom of the list of Test-playing nations. This sad state of West Indies’ cricket demands the attention of Caricom Heads of State.
President of the West Indies Cricket Board, Julian Hunte, is failing to offer any quality leadership to the West Indies Cricket Board; whilst the arrogant and unreliable secretary, Ernest Hilaire, who made all sorts of promises to countries around the Caribbean which he failed to fulfill, seems hell-bent in destroying West Indies cricket.
Hilaire proudly talks down our senior players, and cherishes his opportunities to divide and rule the local cricket boards in the Caribbean.
Many cricket administrators around the Caribbean are against his infantile behaviour. In fact, some administrators are of the strong opinion that his best intention is to destroy West Indies cricket by his biased attitude.
Clyde Butts, the chairman of the selectors, must be a man. He must show us criteria for selecting the team. We completely reject Butts’s explanation that he is following the dictates of the board! Butts, as Chief Selector, must not be a messenger and a cleaner. Butts is not a baggage boy. He should assert himself, and let the Caribbean people know why Chanderpaul and Sarwan were not included in the team. His naïve explanation that Sarwan was not selected last year because of his fitness is a clear demonstration of his weakness and his inability to make decisions and think for himself.
Otis Gibson is another ‘bell boy’. He is a total failure as a coach. Imagine Gibson, who knows nothing about batting, telling world- class batsmen that they must go out there and hit over the top. He is regulating the batting order through a trial-and-error system.
Any good coach must enjoy a good relationship with the senior players in the team. However, Gibson told the players that he suffered and had to sit on the bench and watch the senior and regular players play. Now he is most vindictive, and seeks power by humiliating the senior players. That is why Chanderpaul was inexplicably dropped from two preliminary round matches of the World Cup. However, the team was forced to play him in the quarter- finals, where he top scored in the team’s paltry score of 112 all out.
The notorious and power-drunk administrators/ selectors and coach in West Indies cricket must resign now, so that people with good leadership skills and competent knowledge of cricket can have an opportunity to administer the game here.
The time is most opportune when Guyanese, in particular, must rally behind our most senior players — Chanderpaul and Sarwan. The last One Day International against Pakistan is scheduled to be played in Guyana on May 5. Let us call on the selectors to correct this anomaly and include ‘Shiv’ and ‘ Sars’ in the team.
We must give our un- flinching support to these two Guyanese, and the others; for the best team available to play for the West Indies must be selected.
We must also condemn the ruckus that takes in the team’s dressing room. Gibson must respect all our players, and stop his ranting and raving on them. Hilaire and Gibson must stop using threats to our players and allow them to play cricket.
