Tony BeccaWEST INDIES cricket is dear to the West Indian people and the fortunes of the West Indies team is important to them - so much so that even when they admit that the team is weak, or certainly not as strong as it used to be, whenever it loses, they are so disappointed that it hurts them deep down inside.
Although no team, regardless how strong it is, can win all the time, and even though the fans should not expect to win all the time, nothing is wrong with that. In fact, it demonstrates not only the people's passion for the game but also their pride as a people.
What is wrong is that so often in their disappointment, the people, the fans, ignore the reality of the situation and cast blame where, sometimes, blame should not be cast.
So often, instead of admitting and even while admitting that the team is weak, that it did not play well while batting, bowling or fielding, that the captaincy is weak, too defensive and lacks imagination, the fans blame the management - the manager, the coach and most of all the selectors, and right now that is exactly what is happening as the fans lament the failure of the West Indies at the World Cup.
As far as the fans here in Jamaica are concerned, including many of those who believed that the West Indies would have had to be at their best to get out of the first round, the reason why the West Indies dropped out early was poor team selection and the blame lies squarely with the selectors and more so the chairman of the selection committee - the man who they having been saying recently do not like Jamaicans.
According to the fans, chairman Viv Richards interfered with the selection of the team, he had no right doing so, as far as they are concerned, that is why neither fast bowler Jermaine Lawson or batsman Marlon Samuels was selected before it was too late, and if they had played, the West Indies would have made it at least to the second round.
While it is true that they should have played, and while it is possible that they would have had made a difference, it is not fair to blame Richards.
It is not fair to accuse Richards of not liking Jamaicans - certainly not when his prediction about Samuels' future when he first saw him batting a few years ago is remembered, and not when one listens to him talking about wicketkeeper/batsman Carlton Baugh Jnr; and it is also not fair to blame Richards for the exclusion of Lawson and Samuels - not when he was not the only selector, and not based on the comments of others who were involved in the selection of the team.
When it is remembered, or should be remembered, that the West Indies defeated South Africa in their opening match, that neither Taylor nor Samuels played in that match, and that everyone, certainly the West Indians who were in South Africa, were jumping about and talking about winning the World Cup, and that Richards was also one of the people who selected the team, it also unfair to blame him alone for the eclipse of the West Indies at the World Cup.
When all is said and done, the West Indies failed, not because of Richards but because they did not play well enough.
The question that should be asked is this: should Richards have been involved in the selection process?
According to some Board members, the answer is no.
According to them, the chairman is present on tour simply to watch proceedings so that he can guide his colleagues - Joey Carew and Gordon Greenidge - on something like player-attitude when next they sit to select the West Indies team.
If that is so, however, something is wrong - and it is wrong for this reason. The responsibility of the selection committee is to select the West Indies team, the chairman is the number one man, and if he is present, if his presence is the act of the West Indies Board who pays his bill, it seems unreasonable to ask him to stand aside and do not get involved in the selection of the team.
The argument is that his job is to chair the selection of the squad for a tour and leave the final eleven to the tour committee, but apart from the fact that the chairman is involved in selecting the final eleven whenever the team is playing at home, apart from the fact that when none of the three selectors are on tour they are sometimes consulted, why should the selectors, or the chairman of the selection committee, be present and not have a say in the final 11?
The final eleven, after all, is the West Indies team, and it seems only sensible that if the chairman of the selection committee is present, he should have an input in its selection - either that or the selection committee is not that important.
