Time to pull reins on Windies' selectors

Tony Becca

WEST INDIES cricket is hurting, it is hurting from top to bottom and, although there are many reasons why, the two main ones appear to be a lack of effort by some who believe in business as usual and the ego of others that cause them to believe everything revolves around them.

That seems to be the case throughout the system - around the territories and in the West Indies Board, and it probably has contributed to the tension in West Indies cricket, in the team, and thus the performance of the West Indies team.

Anyone close to the game, anyone who has been listening knows in the past few years there has been no love lost between a number of those in the management of West Indies cricket - both at the board level and at the team level. And for those who have not been listening, it has been there to see.

In the board, the conflict, brought about by the clash of egos, has been obvious; and so too the conflict, again brought about by the clash of egos, in the management of the team. That is why, for example, performance enhancer Dr. Rudi Webster, assistant coach Jeffrey Dujon and performance enhancer Joe Hoad were removed.

It was, in a nutshell, either them or the manager and/or the coach.

Throughout of all that, one area of concern has been the selection of the West Indies team.

Apart from the fact everyone wants to be a selector, or to have enough power to influence the selectors, and although the board has committees to deal with different aspects of West Indies cricket, including the preparation of the team, the selectors have been doing too much.

That, it seems, has left many of them believing they are the most important link in West Indies cricket.

The question is why is this so: why are the selectors doing everything - including all that is involved in preparing the team when there is a committee, the Cricket Committee, whose job it is to do so?

According to the guidelines, the responsibilities of the Cricket Committee, include organising such things as training camps, and the responsibility of the selection committee should be simply to look at the regional tournaments, assess performances at the regional level and the Test level, and then select the team.

The selectors, for example, should have had nothing to do with the recent training camp in Trinidad. In fact, they should not even have been there - certainly not if the West Indies team is selected on performance in matches and general attitude and not what happens in a training camp.

On top of that, considering the cost of flying the selectors into Trinidad and the cost of accommodation, it was a waste of money - money that could be better spent developing the game at the grassroots.

Is it that the Cricket Committee has reneged on its responsibilities and therefore someone had to fill the breach, or is it that the selectors, in their quest to run the show, simply stepped in and took over?

If it is a case of the Cricket Committee not fulfilling its obligation, then someone had to step in. If it is, however, as it appears to be, a case of the selectors flexing their muscles, then that must not be allowed to continue.

In the interest of a good organisation, in the interest of harmony, the board should step in and remind the selectors of their function and their responsibility.

The problem, unfortunately, is not unique to the West Indies team. The same thing, and worse, happens in other territories - including Jamaica.

In Jamaica, however, the selection committee has no alternative. In Jamaica, the selectors are left to do everything - to set up practice and trial matches, to get grounds for practice and trial matches, to arrange for the umpires, to organise lunch and tea, and finally to select the team.

That also must cease. The Cricket Committee in both cases should be responsible for the preparation of the team and all that goes with that, and the selectors should watch the matches and select the team. It should be as simple as that, and in the interest of West Indies cricket, that is how it should be.

It should not be the selectors job to decide if training camps are necessary or when they should be held, and it is not to train the players, or worse, to tell the coaches what to do. Their job should be simply to select teams.

The way things are now, the way some selectors behave, they believe that they are the Dons of West Indies cricket and that they are answerable to no one - not even the president of the board.

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