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IT’S high time that the president of Cricket West Indies Dr Kishore Shallow offers more thought to what is wrong with West Indies cricket. He should, therefore, stop the pretence that the fault lies with the players and no one else.
Why is a coach necessary if he has nothing to offer? Daren Sammy, the head coach of the West Indies side, has run out of excuses. He seems to have run out of options also, seeing that he had to turn the clock back to resurrect Kemar Roach, who was 37 last June, supposedly because he wanted a fast bowler with experience. How does youth gain experience if they are not given opportunities while they’re young, like in their twenties, at least?
Sammy has to be the worst selector ever. Although Roach might be good enough to pluck out a few batsmen in Test cricket, the pressure is not only in the number of overs he has to bowl, but in the sheer fight for supremacy in the field, to gain an advantage over one’s opponent.
However, in an older man, in his late thirties for instance, especially when playing for the lowly-rated West Indies, a lot of time could be spent in the field. Hence, if the fast bowler has to be a main attacking influence, as they usually are, before the start of the second innings he could be a spent force.
They lose confidence more quickly as well because they can’t put out the energy to practise hard as compared to what they could have done at a younger age. This is fact, not guesswork. Where has Roach been since January? At one time, I recall, if I’m not mistaken, he was injured. It takes them longer to recuperate after a short spell away from the game. At present, the subject is international cricket, where a player has to be fit, with loads of stamina, to perform with class at the highest level.
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In the recent limited-overs series against Bangladesh and New Zealand, our top and middle order batting have been particularly horrid through a total lack of consistency. Batsmen like Brandon King, Sherfane Rutherford, Keacy Carty, Alick Athanaze, Ackeem Auguste and Justin Greaves were inconsistent, while Amir Jangoo hardly got a significant chance. When players spend all that time on the bench without match practice, witnessing the disgusting batting of their colleagues, they would probably lose their confidence to take up the mantle when offered.
On the other hand, the skipper, Shai Hope, was very consistent and ended the series with a well-played century in the final ODI match. The weight of carrying the other batsmen overloaded the captain’s capacity to inspire them to build better innings.
CWI is advertising for a batting coach. However, the current assistant batting coach Floyd Reifer is praised by Sammy for doing a wonderful job.
Sammy says and I quote: “Over the last year…I saw Floyd taking Rutherford relentlessly and Carty…starting the work on areas that pertain to their role and how they want to play.”
He continues, “I believe in Floyd. I believe in Avi (Performance Analyst Avenesh Seeteram). I believe in Griff (Assistant Coach (fielding) Rayon Griffith)...I believe in all my players. And we will continue to do all that we can so that our players could be glorified when they do well. Behind the curtains…my analysts working 24 hours making sure information is being put together…every single member of my staff takes their job very seriously and puts in the work.”
Sammy then says: “Proper preparation prevents poor performance…and that’s all we’re going to continue doing.”
It is disheartening for Sammy to actually state that his group of coaches and assistants are so inefficient that after all the work he outlined as being perfect for proper preparation, has failed and the head coach is so assured of his position that as he takes the WI team deeper and deeper into the abyss of no return, he’s confident of not being released.
The incompetence of the head coach, who obviously does not know what the position entails and who believes that, because he has chosen his henchmen, they can’t fail. His ego is so out of bounds that he does not even understand how to inspire and encourage a team that’s at the bottom level to bring it to the top.
"Proper preparation prevents poor performance…and that’s all we’re going to continue doing;" really? So does Sammy believe his team is performing well?
 
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