Article by David Harris
The present state of West Indies cricket is not good even though a lot of money is being invested into the sports, and several news positions have been created by Cricket West Indies says former Barbados and West Indies cricketer Philo Wallace.
“The current state of West Indies cricket is not good; we are way down the pack and even at the bottom in some of the formats in the International Cricket Council rankings, and that is heart-wrenching, because a lot of resources are being pumped into cricket, and several new positions have been created; and yet the results on the field are not improving. An Academy was created a couple of years ago and only a a few players from that establishment are currently in the West Indies setup. I am concerned about the structure of the franchise system; I do not think it is as fruitful as we expected it to be, a lot of the franchises are struggling, and are not producing the quality fast bowlers that they were expected to generate. The batters are still not able to put together big scores in Cricket West Indies (CWI) Four Day Championship, even though a few of them have scored centuries this year, but an examination of the Championship over the years will show that the batters were struggling to score centuries”, Wallace told Advo Magazine.
Wallace is worried that the batsmen throughout the region are unable to cope with spin bowling: “Spinners continued to dominate the Four Day Championships and that is a worrying sign, years ago, the cricket was evenly balance ; the batters scored runs, the fast bowlers took wickets, and the spinners would come into play; but in this era of West Indies cricket, the spinners continue to dominate. There is a deficiency in our batters in relation to playing spin bowlers; and yet the franchises are not employing batting consultants to fix the problem.”
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According to Wallace, not enough attention it not being paid to women cricket, and the territorial boards are reluctant to have similar standards for men and women tournaments.
“The territorial boards seem not to want to have the same standards for men’s and women’s cricket, and I am concerned that West Indies cricket has continued to struggle. The cricket authorities keep saying that we are rebuilding, but we are not making any progress, I don’t know if we are rebuilding on sand. I think the system can be repaired, but it must start at the junior level; our former great cricketers even though they are getting on in age, they can still make a contribution to the development of our young players. The legends can be mentors to our young cricketers, one of their primary tasks should be to explain to the importance of cricket to these young players. Our best coaches should be working with the junior cricketers to get the fundamental principles such as batting, bowling, fielding and wicketkeeping driven home into their young minds”, Wallace said.
“There must be a feeder system for the various levels of youth cricket from the Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and Under-23 cricketers, at the end of this process, our young cricketers should have been adequately prepared to play for a franchise team and the West Indies. I don’t think at the international level a cricketer should still be learning the basics of the game. When a cricketer is selected to play for the West Indies, he or she should have mastered all of the fundamentals of the game, therefore; the emphasis and the focus of the development of West Indies cricket should be at the junior level”, he added.
Wallace said the authorities are aware of the problems that are facing West Indies cricket but are not making the decision to correct them.
“I think they know the answers to the problems that are stopping the development of our cricket but they are not making the decisions to correct them. I don’t think that they have the fortitude to make these decisions. In my opinion they are caught in position where they don’t want to offend a friend, and rather than telling the friend what they are doing is wrong and putting them on the right track. They have continued to allow their friend to keep on going down the wrong path, it is a lack of accountability and responsibility, we keep hearing a lot of rhetoric and fancy talk but nothing is happening on the production line – the time for action in West Indies cricket is now. The ICC is talking about a two-tier system, and if the West Indies are relegated into this tier – they are going to remain there. I don’t how much television viewership the West Indies are going to get, if they are going to have home tours against Bangladesh and Ireland. We need to try and get a product that is good enough to remain in the top tier of Test cricket so that people can recognize that West Indies cricket still has value”, Wallace said.
He is disappointed that there were few spectators at the two first-class matches played at Kensington Oval against the West Indies Academy and the Jamaica Scorpions recently, and said that the onus is on the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) to find away to bring spectators to the matches.
“It hurts me as a former player when I attend first-class matches at Kensington Oval and there are no spectators at the matches even though the matches are free. On the first day of the match against Jamaica Scorpions, there were about 40 spectators watching the game. The players are suffering because there are no spectators at the Oval to support them, some of the people at the Oval were there because cricket was playing, but there was not any purpose for them being there. The BCA needs to find a way the make public understand that the national cricket team is playing at Kensington and there should be there in their numbers supporting the team. There are over 1500 members in the BCA and I don’t think five of them were at the match between Barbados and Jamaica, it is difficult for a cricketer to play a first-class match in his own country at an empty ground; the authorities have to sell the game to the public in order to get them to attend matches and support the players”, the former Barbados captain said.
He said that the focus of the cricketers of his era and the players the current generation were different: “When I played cricket for Barbados, the players had one focus. Our intention was to do well for our country and win titles. We were happy for those from among us that were selected for the West Indies, and were proud that we had played a role in their selection to the West Indies side. The cricketers of my generation understood the importance of playing first-class cricket for their country. Some of the current generation of West Indies cricketers do not understand the importance of playing regional cricket; a lot of them don’t even play first-class cricket, it is always about being tired, work- load management and that kind of snuff. The players, administrators and the spectators have to understand the reason first-class-cricket is being played”.
`Wallace, 54, said he would like to play a role in West Indies cricket, but wants to make a contribution to Barbados’ cricket first.
“I sat on the BCA’ board a few years before I went away to Trinidad and England to study. I am back home now, and I want to make a contribution. I have a couple of ideals that I think can take Barbados and West Indies cricket across the line- if I can get the right people to support them. Barbados needs to get its cricket structure right, and put it back on firm ground. The BCA’s elections are scheduled for July, and there will be a couple of posts that are up for grabs-I am going to put my hat in the race for one of those posts, even if it is the top position in the organization. If I get the support from the members; I am willing to do all that I can to raise the level of cricket in Barbados, and try to restructure some of the clubs that are dying in this country. There are clubs that rely on cricket; but cricket also has to give to clubs to make them feel they are part of the BCA family”, Wallace said.
The right-handed batsman who has a law degree from the University of London said it is intention his to work in area of corporate law, after working in the Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Department for 11 years.
“I love working in the corporate area of law, so in is my intention to work in that field; If it comes to fruition, I will be happy but I also want to help develop cricket and our young cricketers”, Wallace explained.
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