When the West Indies were Kings
April 23rd 2007 09:10
In one of the Caribbean papers today there was an announcement that unexpected but not a total surprise. Bennett King had resigned as coach of the West Indian cricket team. It follows on the heels of the retirement of Brian Lara. In years gone by there was never any need to have a coach, let alone a foreign coach. Of course now that Bennett King has gone he and Australian his support staff will probably go too leaving the West Indies board right back where it was before...back at square one. Having Bennett King as coach was only ever symptomatic of the West Indian plight and speaks of the desperation of finding a quick fix band aid solution to an attitude bypass operation.
The greatest tragedy of world cricket isn't the fall of Zimbabwe or the various betting scandals but the decline of a team that once could draw the crowds in their thousands to match and better the rest of the world teams. Where once there was fear of a West Indian bowler because of his pace and his accuracy now there is none because he lacks the intelligence to out think even batting bunnies, or bowlers being taken to the sword by swashbuckling West Indians now there is just impatient poor shot selection.
The West Indies in the last fifteen years have declined to such an extent that they now sit eighth in both the test and ODI rankings and seem to have no chance to get any higher than that in the foreseeable future. The only teams that keep them off the bottom are the Banglasdeshi's and the Zimbabweans. It speaks volumes doesn't it? Gone are the days of having lightning quick bowlers and tough as teak batsmen. Don't get me wrong as there are good players now but they don't seem to have that extra special quality that their predecessors had.
They lack discipline and that pride to pull on the maroon cap. They have this habit of walking around with their collars up as if they've made it big. Until they start winning again they haven't even come close to what the former players have achieved. It's not enough to play for the West Indies it's about encapsulating what it means to pull on the West Indies cap and remembering those who have gone before and paved the way for them to stand on the shoulders of giants instead of grinding seventy-five years of proud history into the ground.
World cricket needs a strong West Indies. Even if they never deliver being the team that reaches former heights at least we'll have the memories.
The greatest tragedy of world cricket isn't the fall of Zimbabwe or the various betting scandals but the decline of a team that once could draw the crowds in their thousands to match and better the rest of the world teams. Where once there was fear of a West Indian bowler because of his pace and his accuracy now there is none because he lacks the intelligence to out think even batting bunnies, or bowlers being taken to the sword by swashbuckling West Indians now there is just impatient poor shot selection.
The West Indies in the last fifteen years have declined to such an extent that they now sit eighth in both the test and ODI rankings and seem to have no chance to get any higher than that in the foreseeable future. The only teams that keep them off the bottom are the Banglasdeshi's and the Zimbabweans. It speaks volumes doesn't it? Gone are the days of having lightning quick bowlers and tough as teak batsmen. Don't get me wrong as there are good players now but they don't seem to have that extra special quality that their predecessors had.
They lack discipline and that pride to pull on the maroon cap. They have this habit of walking around with their collars up as if they've made it big. Until they start winning again they haven't even come close to what the former players have achieved. It's not enough to play for the West Indies it's about encapsulating what it means to pull on the West Indies cap and remembering those who have gone before and paved the way for them to stand on the shoulders of giants instead of grinding seventy-five years of proud history into the ground.
World cricket needs a strong West Indies. Even if they never deliver being the team that reaches former heights at least we'll have the memories.
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