Twelve months of West Indian turmoil

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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-fnp050m0-1227548962166

ONCE 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

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If you go back the last 10 years when there were problems with Ramnarine as the WIPA Head, the state of WI cricket is a true circus.

VB

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http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/74918/when-will-the-troubles-in-west-indies-cricket-end

Given the choice between brokering peace in the Middle East or resolving the almost endless disorder that plagues West Indies cricket, an envoy could be forgiven for asking for a few days to sleep on it. If that statement seems bizarre to anyone, then it means they haven't been following the upheavals that have long been a feature of the game in the Caribbean.

It appears not to matter one jot who is coach, captain, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president, or West Indies Player's Association (WIPA) president. Personalities have come and gone; the only constant has been chaos.

Anyone with even a scant association with cricket is aware of the earth-shattering abandonment of the West Indies' tour to India that saddled the WICB with a $42 Million bill. It is a pall that still hangs over Caribbean cricket and is at least partially responsible for the new conflict that is now upon WI cricket.

This latest installment of disarray sees West Indies coach Phil Simmons making accusations of "interference from outside" in the selection process. According to Simmons, he, along with chairman of selectors Clive Lloyd, and captain Jason Holder, were bent on having the services of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard for the ODI leg of their upcoming visit to Sri Lanka. And despite delivering impassioned pleas on behalf of the two players, they (himself and Lloyd since Holder doesn't have a vote) were outvoted by the other three selectors.

The former opening batsman offered this: "The disappointing fact is that you can lose 3-2 in a vote-off but there is too much interference from outside in the selection of the ODI squad and it's disappointing for me to know that in any aspect of life ... [people would use] their position to get people into a squad; or in this case, get people left out of a squad. It is wrong and I don't like it and that is my beef with the selection of the ODI team."

Many would agree with Simmons that Bravo and Pollard are amongst the best limited-overs players in the region and should to be in any ODI squad. Yet, only the very naive believe that ability is, or even ought to be, the only criterion in team selection. There are, and have to be, other considerations.

You won't hear it from Caribbean cricket authorities but it was obvious that Bravo and Pollard were not selected for the South African tour in January and the World Cup that followed as punishment for their role in the Aborted Indian tour. It appears, however, that Simmons, Lloyd and Holder were now prepared to welcome them back into the fold.

For whatever reason, however, the remaining selectors were not likewise convinced that the Trinidadian duo should have been picked. And Simmons is clearly suggesting that undue pressure was exerted on one or more of Courtney Walsh, Courtney Browne or Eldine Baptiste for them to have voted the way they did.

But let's, for a moment, consider the implications of Simmons' claim. The inference is that Walsh or Browne or Baptiste, or possibly all three were of a mind to select Bravo and Pollard but succumbed to arm-twisting by outside forces and so voted to exclude them.

This is nothing if not an unvarnished attack on the character of seemingly upstanding men. Does Simmons really believe that those three lack the backbone to withstand whatever underhanded overtures were made to them? Does Simmons think that they could be coerced into making decisions that are not in the best interest of West Indies cricket as they see it?

Unfortunately, Simmons offered no substantiation to back up his allegations. And while there are many in the Caribbean not averse to accepting the WICB as being more than capable of such devious methods, I'm not sure they'd readily see someone like Walsh as willing to cooperate with them.

And then there is the issue of collective responsibility. Simmons said he and Lloyd were outvoted. On its face, the coach appears to be describing nothing more than the normal selection process; a process he would've long known about and accepted. If he, Lloyd, and Holder failed to sway the other selectors then he should have simply accepted the loss and moved on, for that is how the system was designed.

Now, having said all that, it has to be noted that Simmons is widely viewed as being reasonable and loyal. It is then unlikely he'd have raised those charges publicly were he not convinced that the process was corrupted. He had to have felt a deep level of frustration as well, for he is said to have a good rapport with someone like Walsh, who is his close friend.

And yet, taking all that we know into account, I am left with the feeling that Simmons acted unwisely. His public outcry made his position untenable, and so it not surprising he has been suspended by the WICB. Additionally, none of the other persons involved have come forward to bolster his claims, and, by the look of things, chances of him ever being reinstated are slim. Baptiste has been chosen as his replacement, and it should be remembered that the Antiguan was short-listed for the West Indies coaching job that eventually went to Simmons.

All of this commotion only serves to further annoy West Indian fans already weighed down by the incessant disturbances that have afflicted their cricket for much too long. The constant squabbling must now be a chief source of amusement for those who follow the game, or, alternatively, a great source of disappointment for those who remember the glory days. How could a product that was once rated the best in the world fallen to such depths?

Hopefully, peace will break out in West Indies cricket one day soon. Hopefully, that peace will be lasting, and will lead to better days.