WEST Indies cricket is in turmoil again. On the eve of a tour to Sri Lanka, recently appointed coach Phil Simmons has lashed out at the leadership of the regional board for what he sees as interference in the selection of the team.
According to Mr Simmons, he and chairman of the selection committee, Clive Lloyd, wanted out-of-favour players Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard on the ODI team, but were out-voted. The other three selectors -—Courtney Walsh, Courtney Browne and Eldine Baptiste -— voted against their inclusion. Mr Simmons’s claim insinuated that these selectors’ votes were influenced by “interference from outsideâ€, a not-so-veiled reference to members of the WICB.
Almost immediately, Prime Minister of Grenada, Dr Keith Mitchell, who heads CARICOM’s sub-committee on Cricket Governance, joined Simmons in condemning the alleged interference. Simmons, for his part, is reported to have sent to the WICB’s management committee and the selection panel an apology in which he expressed regret for his “fit of madness akin to a schoolboy.†However, the management committee suspended Simmons and pulled him from the team which travelled to Sri Lanka. He will soon appear before the WICB’s disciplinary committee. It is not clear whether the decision of the management committee was sanctioned by the WICB’s Board of Directors or by President Dave Cameron. At least one director, Trinidad and Tobago board president Azim Bassarath, has questioned the authority of the management committee to suspend the coach.
So here we are again. Just a year ago, we had the embarrassment of the West Indies team abandoning a tour of Indian which, among other things, has put the WICB at odds with the Indian board and has caused the Indian board to demand a hefty financial compensation for its losses from the premature end of the tour. It is clear that the latest development is another indirect consequence of the India fiasco. Despite its protestations to the contrary, the selection panel and the WICB have opted to punish Bravo and Pollard, who were the ringleaders of the revolt in India. That decision was met by mixed reactions from the cricket fraternity and the public at large.
Since assuming the position as head coach, Mr Simmons has not hidden his preference for their return to the team. He reportedly met with Bravo to talk about his possible inclusion in the test team, but Bravo predictably rejected the offer on ground that the pay structure was unsatisfactory. If Simmons’s recent claims are true, then it would seem that Chairman Lloyd has decided that the duo has been punished enough and is prepared to have them back on the team, but the rest of the selection panel seems unready.
We agree with Mr Simmons that his outburst was uncalled for. To go public on an already sensitive matter is tantamount to pouring gasoline on an already raging fire. It is distraction a struggling team could do without on the eve of a tour. But it is Simmons’s charges that the selectors’ votes were influenced by outsiders that is of much concern. First, he is questioning the integrity of the selectors, including the respected Courtney Walsh. Second, he is levelling charges of institutional interference in team selection. We make a distinction between private opinions expressed as individuals and those which find their way in formal directives. Mr. Simmons must come clean with his evidence of the latter.
In the meantime, West Indies cricket continues to bleed. This is a matter of great concern. It seems as if we are incapable of lifting ourselves out of the rot. Has the Caribbean civilization lost its ability to overcome? Are we so consumed with narrow perspectives that we can no longer distinguish between the tree and the forest? Where is the Caribbean vision that lifted us out of slavery, indentureship and colonialism? As CLR James would remind us, this thing goes beyond the boundary.
