SPORTS: DANCING BRAVE COLUMN By Andre E Baptiste ------- THE RUIN OF WEST INDIES CRICKET ---- A place in history can either be good or bad, there is simply no room for middle ground in this regard and so when the history of West Indies cricket is finally written, the name Wycliffe Dave Cameron may become synonymous, with disaster, destruction and depravity of West Indies Cricket. While not for the first time, a sitting West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President finds himself under the gun and in the firing line, this time around Cameron seems heading to be top of the list as the “Worst WICB President in history”. Not that this seems to matter much to Cameron a man who appears consumed by power and prestige of a job , rather than the unification of the islands. In the most recent scenario where Dwayne Bravo was sacked as West Indies Captain and several other players thrown to the side, Cameron has shown no remorse for angering not only the people of the region but also appearing to break a gentleman’s agreement with two Caribbean Prime Ministers , Dr Ralph Gonsalves(St Vincent) and Dr Keith Mitchell (Grenada). West Indies cricket can ill afford to continually make friends their enemies, as the WICB have done with India and now under Cameron seem intent on following through with CARICOM. Those that know Cameron should not be surprised at his reaction to Caricom intervention as a few years ago in a radio interview with me; he first said” Caricom should not get involved “, before quickly catching his senses to reply “I should not say that, Caricom is Caricom…”. It was no surprise a little bit later (all of 90 seconds later, there was a loud click and thump and the phone line connection and interview with Cameron was over). Notably on that occasion, Cameron was not the President but a vice-President of the WICB, but clearly not much as change in terms of his belief in Caricom intervention. So History will forever show that Dave Cameron brought the once powerful West Indies team to its lowest point and instead of attempting to repair the damage instead inflicted more damaging blows on the sport without blinking an eye. Many have already called for his dismissal as President with some on several radio programmes in Trinidad and Tobago, blaming Cameron’s jealousy of the prominence of Trinidad and Tobago players to be at the centre of this entire matter. However , it is unfair to blame or cast aspersions on all Jamaicans because of Cameron’s riposte, as simply put I know and I am certain many persons both know and respect many intelligent, caring and sincere Jamaicans . It would appear that Cameron has forgotten that he was asking for the assistance of Caricom in the threatened legal matters with the Indian Cricket Board. Alas it seems , Cameron must have receive news that the Indian Cricket Board will no longer be pursuing matters against the WICB , so he no longer needs to listen to CARICOM leaders or care about hurting their feelings, or breaking their trust. And yes, trust in leadership is one of the most important ingredients in establishing motivation and inspiration; therefore can anyone be in doubt of the abject poor state of the game of cricket in the Caribbean with this sort of leadership from Dave Cameron. Alas , though , Cameron is not the only man aboard this – sinking ship- , as he was quoted as saying that the decision of the Clive Lloyd led selection committee to make the necessary changes only to the One Day squad mere months before the World Cup was “ unanimously agreed to by the members of the WICB “. Therefore that means the following all said “Yes ...Yes…Yes…Yes …Yes…..” to signing their names to the devaluation of West Indies Cricket. Wycliffe Dave Cameron President Hon. Ambassador Emmanuel Nanthan Vice President Joel Garner MBE Member Director Deighton Smith Member Director Anand Sanasie Member Director Anand Kalladeen Member Director Wilford Billy Heaven Member Director Dr. Donovan Bennett Member Director Enoch Lewis Member Director Baldath Mahabir Member Director Azim Bassarath Member Director Julian Charles Member Director Elson Crick Member Director Hon. Richard Ricky Skerritt Non-member Director (CARICOM nominee) Clifford Reis Non-member Director Jennifer Nero Non-member Director Don Wehby Non-member Director Michael Holding, Ian Bishop and Fazeer Mohammed, have all either written or spoken on the merits or demerits of players left out or included, so my position is quite clear “If it walks like a duck, smells like a duck, I do not need to taste it to know it is a duck.” So at the moment, unless it appears our leaders in the region show some concern for cricket and forget about petty island rivalry, West Indies cricket a once rich proud legacy will forever be tarnished and become rotten with the stench of hubris. We must also rewrite Clive Lloyd’s role in all of this given his decision in the 70’s to lead many West Indian players to join with Kerry Packer and walk out on representing the West Indies team. Then in 1998 , Lloyd was the manager , when the then Brian Lara led West Indies team refused to travel to South Africa over money woes again with WICB , Lloyd on that occasion was again disappointed that the players did not listen to him in threatening to abandon the tour then. In fact, it was reported that efforts were made to ask Courtney Walsh to captain the team instead of Lara but he refused. Now we have déjà vu in India with the Dwayne Bravo led West Indies team. It appears that the Trinidad and Tobago players, when it comes to leadership and fair play are the most outspoken and forthright and that probably dates back to the very same Kerry Packer days when Derek Murray was the vice-captain to Lloyd but always considered the intellectual in the group based on his educational background. Sadly at the moment , the deafening silence from the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board over the many puzzling non-selections of Trinidad and Tobago players adds credence to the belief that “ Cameron and all of them in this together …” West Indies cricket may soon be lost for good, but Wycliffe Dave Cameron’s history will indelibility spell a legacy of many D’s from Disaster to Destruction, thankfully though not Dunce, because you would need to fool yourselves into believing this was for the good of cricket. The landscape does not look bright for cricket in the region, but we can only hope that Cameron’s reign ends sooner rather than later or that the WICB changes its colours and new blood reigns with the intervention of CARICOM. Caricom must recognize how important cricket is too the region, and in Trinidad and Tobago our leaders need to stand up and be counted now. :: AB
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 12:33:49 +0000
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