Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, persona non grata with certain Selectors
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/cricket/we-chart-the-12-months-of-turmoil-suffered-by-west-indies-cricket/story-fnp050m0-1227548962166ONCE the jewel in world cricket’s crown, the West Indies have fallen a long way from the dizzy heights of being the best team on the planet.
While the decline of Caribbean cricket is nothing new, the shambolic circus that has followed the national side for quite some time has reached new levels over the past 12 months.
The stunning decision to suspend coach Phil Simmons just days out from a tour of Sri Lanka – and a couple of months before a visit to Australia - is just the latest in a series of confounding situations the Windies have found themselves in over the past year.
We look at the 12 months of turmoil West Indies cricket has experienced.
October 2014 – Player strike ends tour of India
A giant black hole is hovering over West Indies cricket, threatening to swallow it up. The hole is about the size of $60 million.
That’s how much the Board of Control for Cricket in India is hoping to recoup from the West Indies Cricket Board after the Windies abandoned a tour of India last year.
The matter is yet to reach the courts but it seems only a matter of time before things ramp up a notch and the Windies are made to pay for an issue that stemmed from a three-way dispute between the players, the union that is supposed to represent them, and the board.
SHOCK: WEST INDIES SUSPEND THEIR OWN COACH
The players’ strike in India could end up sending West Indies cricket bankrupt.
The players’ strike in India could end up sending West Indies cricket bankrupt.
The players were furious that the head of the West Indies Players Association, former Test batsman Wavell Hinds, agreed to a new pay agreement that would see them take a significant pay cut.
The decision by the players to quit the Indian tour with a one-day international, Twenty20 match and three Tests left unplayed was labelled “an act of terrorism” by WICB president Dave Cameron.
The financial implications still have the potential to send West Indies cricket bankrupt.
January 2015 – Superstars left out of World Cup squad
Chris Gayle is always happy to speak his mind, although the subject is just as likely to be partying and sexual escapades as it is the internal machinations of Caribbean cricket.
But Gayle touched on the latter when, during a post-match interview in South Africa, he slammed the decision to leave fellow superstars Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard out of West Indies’ World Cup squad.
Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard would have been handy for the Windies at the World Cup.
Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard would have been handy for the Windies at the World Cup.
The official explanation for their omission was that it was part of a generational change, but many interpreted the move as punishment for the pair’s leadership during the player strike.
“How can those two guys not be in the team?” Gayle said. “To me it (has) got to be like victimisation when you look at it towards those two guys.
“Come on ... it is just ridiculous ... (it has) really hurt ... just sad.”
The Windies were knocked out of the World Cup by South Africa in the quarter-finals.
May 2015 – Shivnarine Chanderpaul dropped
The axing of veteran batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul earlier this year was one of the most divisive issues West Indies cricket has seen in recent times.
Old complaints about island-based favouritism were trotted out, with Chanderpaul’s home island of Guyana releasing a furious statement in which they labelled the decision “ridiculous”, “senseless” and “a matter of gross disrespect”.
But the decision also ran deeper than intra-island rivalry, cutting to the core of an issue that is faced by all cricketing nations – does a true legend of the game deserve to go out on his own terms?
Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s controversial axing sparked heated debate in the Caribbean.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s controversial axing sparked heated debate in the Caribbean.
Opinion was split among several West Indies greats, with world record-holding batsman Brian Lara insisting Chanderpaul had earned a farewell series, while respected commentator Michael Holding said the 40-year-old no longer deserved his spot in the team.
Things got ugly when communications between Chanderpaul, chief selector Clive Lloyd and coach Phil Simmons were leaked to the media. Lloyd penned a letter in which he decried the fact Chanderpaul had refused to return his calls, while in a Whatsapp exchange with Simmons, Chanderpaul demanded he should not be pushed into retirement.
In the end the decision to axe the champion batsman – and effectively end his international career - was upheld, and a very youthful-looking Windies side was hammered 2-0 in the Test series against Australia.
September 2015 – Rumblings after new captain appointed
On the surface, the decision to elevate young all-rounder Jason Holder to the Test captaincy was a logical one.
He had already been appointed one-day captain ahead of the World Cup, and in consecutive Test series against England and Australia he showed the capacity to match it with the world’s best players and be an inspirational team man who led from the front.
Denesh Ramdin has been relieved of the Test captaincy.
Denesh Ramdin has been relieved of the Test captaincy.
Yet when his appointment as Test skipper was announced, the backlash almost seemed inevitable.
“I have spoken to Denesh and he understood the situation and there was no animosity,” Lloyd said.
Yet that wasn’t the impression left by former West Indies manager Omar Khan, who suggested Ramdin was axed as skipper to punish him for his role in the player strike in India nearly a year earlier.
“It is alleged that a number of senior West Indies players have resigned from the Players Association (WIPA) with Ramdin being one of them, and it seems as if this has cost him the captaincy,” Khan told the Jamaica Observer.
September 2015: Coach suspended
Coach Phil Simmons was suspended by the same group of people who had hired him barely six months earlier.
The former international all-rounder had promised to shake things up when he came on board as head coach after eight years in charge of Ireland, but some of his shake ups weren’t quite to the West Indies Cricket Board's liking.
West Indies coach Phil Simmons has been suspended by the WICB.
Phil Simmons has been suspended as West Indies head coach.
Last week Simmons spoke out about the outside interference that saw Pollard and Bravo omitted from the one-day squad to tour Sri Lanka, and also revealed captain Holder wanted the pair in the squad.
“I think it’s disappointing from the fact that I haven’t got the best 50-over ODI squad that we can select in the Caribbean,” Simmons said.
For his troubles, Simmons was suspended pending an investigation.
Originally published as The most tumultuous year in cricket