I suppose that if anyone used the phrase “I told you so” with reference to the results of our West Indies cricket team’s two Test matches against Sri Lanka, credit is no longer relevant, seeing that many supporters of the selected team were concerned over many issues that appeared to have predicted the results.
However, defeat is well known to provide great lessons if careful analysis is made in almost every area of the game. After listening to Sir Gary Sobers, the most brilliant all-rounder in the history of world cricket, as he spoke of the general performances of the players in the Sri Lanka series, it was sad to see tears running down his cheeks as he bemoaned the state of cricket in the region.
He reminded the players that they need to understand that their every run made or wicket taken must be done with the team in mind. He uttered fear that failure to make serious adjustments to their performances on the field and to improve the mental focus off the field, we may end up lower on the world table than we presently are.
That is not criticism, my friends. That is the voice of a man who had gone that route by production of extraordinary talent, mixed adequately with desire to perform with the commitment of a true professional. It is all well and good for interim coach Eldine Baptiste to shower praises on skipper Jason Holder by saying that he led admirably, when the team lost both matches in four days each.
That comment may lift the young skipper out of the team’s pain of failure. Holder admitted that the wickets in Sri Lanka were not far from the way the Caribbean wickets played, which meant that the players did not apply themselves.
Surely, we are able to recognise the excellent performances of spinners Devendra Bishoo and the young Barbadian Jomel Warrican, whose success sent a strong message to batsmen everywhere. Once again, it was the constructive words of Sir Gary that were referred to as inspirational to Warrican.
However, did Baptiste, the former West Indies all-rounder not realise that our core batsmen were starting their innings and getting into the thirties and even into the seventies, but failing to carry on towards formidable totals which will give the bowlers the room to bowl out the opposition.
I was once strictly reminded by the legendary Sir Learie Constantine that success can only be achieved when performances are consistently bringing results, in the way that Clive Lloyd, Sir Viv Richards had inflicted their dominance upon the entire cricket world.
No one should advocate the removal of the young skipper Holder. We all know that his present job is to gain valuable experience and add as much of it as possible to his already established persona and intelligent approach to the game and to life generally.
The game can turn itself towards a better West Indies if the likes of Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, and Kraigg Brathwaite can lift their scores more regularly, so that all of Jermaine Blackwood, Shai Hope, and the other youngsters can make the task of applying themselves to be a positive form of behaviour, through discipline and commitment, to turn the tables around.
Surely the Australian tour will be even more difficult, especially where the ball bounces a few inches higher and the pace will be an unusual form of hostility. No one said life of batsmen is easy, but it is certainly not impossible. Ask Sir Viv, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, and the prince of Port-of-Spain, Brian Lara.