West Indies Cricket – The soap opera episode

The events of the past week in West Indies Cricket involving the West Indies Cricket Board, the West Indies Players Association, Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are the latest in the worst seller of soap operas to be aired anywhere.{{more}}

WICB lead actors were its Chief Executive Officer Ernest Hilaire, along with Gayle and WIPA chief whip Dinanath Ramnarine. Recently, Chanderpaul made a brief on set appearance as part of the supporting cast.

Talk about washing your dirty linen in public… what is being beamed goes beyond that, as nearly the entire closet has been brought out to the village stand pipes across the world.

So, the setting was established, the regional and international media, including twitter, the shouting match among the lead actors.

Scene one saw the axing of senior players Gayle, Chanderpaul, and Ramnaresh Sarwan for the first two matches of the One Day International series against the touring Pakistanis, and the subsequent comments by Hilaire seemed to have angered Gayle and Ramnarine, but it does not take much for the latter to show his natural tendencies to get rile up.

Hilaire said that the players were not dropped but were left out in a move to build a pool of players for the future.

Gayle led scene two, as he jetted off to the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL), and sent back his shots, stating that the Board never consulted him on his injury after he returned from the World Cup.

Hilaire responded stating that the senior players lacked commitment.

But, not put on the set, it was the same WICB which gave Gayle the NOC (NO Objection Certificate) to play in the IPL.

Gayle then hinted that Hilaire was not telling the truth, with the CEO saying he did not want to get in a debate with Gayle.

Chanderpaul, who is normally of quiet disposition, starred in the next scene, fulfilling his nick name “Tiger”, as he responded angrily to Hilaire.

Chanderpaul charged that the West Indies selectors asked him to quit at the conclusion of the World Cup and that he was dropped from the West Indies team when he refused to comply.

The “ Tiger” roared that the selectors further told him that he would need to go back to regional Cricket and do exceptionally well and then they might consider him for future selection, despite Chanderpaul having the third best average in the recently concluded World Cup for the West Indies team of anyone with more than two innings.

On the defensive, Hilaire responded stating that his comments on cricketers did not name individual players and were based on reports and public comments made by previous coaches, and that Chanderpaul has been and remains a valued member of the West Indies first team squad.

Wanting another say, Chanderpaul once again questioned why he was then dropped for the series against Pakistan.

The shortcomings of Hilaire and the WICB to some have been exposed by the on going cross fire of words, confirming the sometimes inconsistencies of operations of the Factory Road based Secretariat.

Amidst all that has been said and done, no one seems to care about the overall crippling effect of what has become the norm for the past dozen years.

But, while we are consumed with the whole melee, the regional team has already lost the One Day Series against Pakistan, despite winning the lone T/20.

The WICB remains without a sponsor for its three regional competitions, which are the four day tournament, the 50 overs one day and the T/20 competitions.

Too, the stands remain empty, especially at the four day competition, and the current series against Pakistan has not drawn out persons in their droves.

The reality is that a lot of West Indians are fed up with the Board and WIPA, hence many have turned their backs in oblivion.

There are still some die-hard West Indian supporters who still find time to attend the matches, travel around the world with the team, are glued to their televisions and other media, hoping that one day things will be better all round, on and off the field.

They are holding firm that hope springs eternal.

So, just stay tuned for the next episode in the series.

No soap opera, but that the Mound at the Sion Hill Playing Field be removed.