Tony BeccaWEST INDIES Cricket Board president Ken Gordon believes, as I do, that with some good, solid preparation the West Indies can perform creditably in the World Cup and possibly win it.
The president also believes that if he succeeds in putting together a retainer contract for a squad of players by June, the Windies can not only win the Cup and in the process become the first home team to do so, but they could also become, once again, one of the best teams in the world.
That, however, is where we part company.
While a retainer contract would be good for West Indies cricket for the simple reason that the board would then have more control over the players and would be able to manage them as far as playing in domestic competitions, practising and training are concerned, it will take more than that to build a strong West Indies team.
Over the years, and particularly so in recent times, the attitude of West Indies players has been such that they will find every excuse not to play, not to practice, not to train regularly, and it will take strong management to insist that they do the type of management that has been missing in West Indies cricket.
PART OF THE PROBLEM
That, however, is only a part of the problem.
Another part of the problem is that it is difficult to build a champion team in an atmosphere that is not conducive to it, and right now, the atmosphere in the West Indies is not conducive to doing so - and definitely so in Jamaica where cricket has fallen behind sports like football and track and field, where it is difficult to find proper funding for the sport, where hardly anyone watches the sport at the school level, the club level, and even at the territorial level, and where the players at the club level are getting younger and younger each year to the point where, unlike years ago when only national youth players could get into a team, ordinary schoolboy players are regular members of club teams.
One of the biggest problems facing West Indies cricket, however, is the lack of a professional league in the region - a league in which players are paid to play the game, a league which will encourage players to play the game even if they do not get into the West Indies team and even after they are dropped from the team, a league which the players will want to be a part of because they want to earn, a league which will force the players to practice and to train day after day.
Right now, and unlike years gone by, West Indies first-class cricket is weak, once it continues to be weak, the West Indies team, regardless of retainer contracts, will continue to be weak, and a professional league which will encourage older players to stay on and play the game is the only answer to the building of a strong West Indies team.
PROFESSIONAL LEAGUE
A professional league, a good professional league of 10 matches which parades the best players, young and old, will provide the kind of competition that will, in terms of skill, mental development and fighting spirit, guarantee the full and proper development of the young talent around.
Such is the lack of support for cricket these days, however, that even if the WICB can find the money to fund such a league, it probably would not help West Indies cricket and it probably would not do so because it would not, due to the lack of support, last too long.
For such a league to succeed all those who profess to love the game, all those who claim they love West Indies cricket, and all those who talk so much and so often about what West Indies cricket means to them and to the West Indian people, will have to support the game in whatever they can do so.
They certainly will have to turn out and watch matches.
Apart from the fact that nothing can be built from the top, apart from the fact that the best way to start is with the foundation, the truth is that retainer or no retainer, professional league or no professional league, West Indies cricket will never be strong again until cricket in the West Indies is strong again.
