As the West Indies wind up their humiliating cricket tour of South Africa, they have very little hope of regaining their lost grandeur of the Eighties, argues Cameron Duodo
No one will feel as devastated by the 5-0 whitewash of the West Indies by South Africa more than Windies captain Brian Lara. Lara ran into trouble some months ago by allegedly telling Kenyan players, in India, that he didn’t mind them beating his team but would have minded if the South Africans had. And have they!
What a difference 15 years can make. The West Indies, who beat England in England 5-0 in 1984, thereby introducing “blackwash” into cricket lingo, and followed that up with another “blackwash” in the West Indies in 1986, have now succumbed to the same treatment at the hands of a South African team that, but for a little colour here and there, reeks of the apartheid years.
What is the trouble? You see, performance is a difficult mistress to service. She fills you up with testosterone at one moment and makes you think you are the king of the sack. But 15 years on she turns away from you when you wake up in the morning with something warm in your lap.
Well, what do the Windies do now? Since it is in the batting department that the Windies are so impotent, they should introduce some Viagra into the system, by way of a coaching contract for the one and only Viv Richards, with perhaps Richie Richardson as assistant coach.
I am personally appalled at the inability of the West Indies board to retain the services of some of their most talented players, once these guys retire. I believe, for instance, that if a proper approach had been adopted towards Richardson, he might have played under Courtney Walsh, in the same way that Walsh is playing under Lara.
Now, Walsh and Richardson are totally different personalities. But surely the personality problem can be sorted out by proper, deliberately cultivated man- management techniques?
Anyway, Friday-night bowlers/ batters of my type – the equivalent of American football’s detested Monday-morning quarterbacks – can provide “solutions” that their drinking companions alone value.
So I consulted a much younger expert. This is his view: “I think the well- worn `grassroots’ argument is the way forward. By `grassroots’ I mean cricket as an academic subject taught/practised at the institutional level, developing the available talent by providing players with the necessary psychological tools for battle, as well as the physical. But to plant the seeds, more cash is needed.
“What is going on in the Windies, you see, is closely linked to quite fundamental changes in the personality of the islands – from colonies of the United Kingdom to economic and social colonies of the United States.
“People of my age group will have been brought up on a far more varied sporting diet than was the case with Richards, [Gordon] Greenidge, [Desmond] Haynes and company. They will hold up Michael Jordan, Carl Lewis and Pele, with as much regard as the great cricketers.
“There will have been a smaller pool of talent coming into cricket in that 100% `committed’ way that is necessary if one is to develop into a great player. And inevitably the standards have fallen. This decline is going to continue. Unless.
“Although cricket is the only sport the Windies are likely to lead the world in, for a 16-year-old with sporting talent, the lure of money as a reward will usually outstrip the attraction of being a world-beater.
“It is usually very basic urges that lead people to choose what sport they want to follow. The same thoughts go through all youngsters’ minds at that critical moment. Will I succeed? What are the rewards? If I don’t make it all the way, how well can I live?
“The authorities have not been thinking clearly enough about creating career paths for players, as happens in any American sport, or football in South America and Europe.
“Cash subsidies for players, scholarships, sports academies, and so on, are needed to provide the secure structure in which cricketers can develop.
“England has copied some of this from Australia, and it is beginning to work. Look at the new England find, Alex Tudor, who’s been taking wickets in Australia: if you join the English county club Surrey’s staff, as Tudor did, you get a cash salary, and `go to school’ where you learn a variety of skills, from groundsmanship to coaching – yes, even while you are being taught yourself – to administration of various aspects of the club.
“Such youngsters taken on to the staff know that even if, eventually, they don’t make it to the Test arena, they can make an average living on the domestic stage, or better still, transfer their skills to other trades, inside or outside sport. It is far more attractive to go for professional sport if there are such prospects. But of course all this requires investment. And that is exactly where cricket in the West Indies falls down so appallingly. “They can’t sell the game to sponsors – they couldn’t find a sponsor for this tour until the last minute. The result speaks for itself. Financial security is a lot more important to these guys than anyone seems to realise.
“Basketball is only where it is because of sponsorship – you think of basketball, you think of Nike. Adidas. Puma. “Cricket? Even as a player I can only think of some obscure bat company which is probably only just surviving itself, leave alone making enough to throw cash at the game.
“Solve that problem and the rest will begin to fall into place. To solve it you need to bring in consultants. Give them a target. Simple.”
Well, the oracle has spoken. I hope Ali Bacher is eavesdropping, for what is good for Kingston is good for Soweto.