- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 26/Jul 09:08

Shallow response to WI abject failure

THE EDITOR: As soon as Daren Sammy was hand-picked as coach of the WI Test team by Cricket West Indies (CWI), led by president Dr Kishore Shallow, my colleagues predicted a clean sweep by Australia – but of course not all out for 27. CWI’s “brainchild” certainly backfired. The WI drew one-all with Australia in Australia and one-all against Pakistan in Pakistan last year and what followed were wholesale changes to the team (except the bowlers) – from coach to captain and seven players who featured in those Tests. Following the carnage in Jamaica, Shallow response was that, “like every West Indian cricket fan, I felt the pain of our recent Test defeat to Australia,” then convened an emergency meeting and invited Sir Clive Lloyd, Sir Vivian Richards and Brian Lara. For a fleeting moment I thought he had picked them to play – very innovative I would say. In 2022 when we were knocked out of the qualifying rounds of the T20 World Cup, a three-man committee comprising Justice Patrick Thomson, Mickey Arthur and Lara was formed to investigate the team’s performance and its early exit from the tournament. I do not think the report was ever published. So, let me give the president, who was appointed March 2023, a heads-up as to what could have gone wrong. Jimmy Adams’s tenure as WI director of cricket ended at the end of June 2023, replaced by St Vincent's Miles Bascombe August 1, 2023. Sammy was appointed as the head coach for the ODI and T20 teams in May 2023, with Andre Coley taking charge of the Test and ‘A' teams at the same time. In June 2023 Ramnaresh Sarwan, former WI captain, publicly questioned CWI’s selection process for the new white ball coach, specifically raising concerns about how Sammy was chosen, citing that close to two dozen individuals were interviewed for the position, and questioned the transparency of the selection. Shallow was asked to explain the criteria used for the appointment and why the other 20 candidates interviewed were not made public, suggesting a lack of transparency. Sarwan urged Shallow to clarify the selection criteria and the reasons for Sammy’s appointment. Roland Butcher was appointed as selector in December 2022 and dismissed in December 2023. Desmond Haynes’s tenure as lead selector ended June 2024. Did West Indies function without a selection committee from July 1, 2024? In January, the CWI announced that Sammy, the WI’s white-ball coach, would replace Coley following the the Pakistan series. Full control of the Test team was eventually handed to Sammy, who picks and coaches the senior side across all formats, as of April this year. What criteria was used to select our red ball coach? How many candidates were considered and was the process, if there was any, transparent? A coach without qualifications? Then to add fuel to the fire, Roston Chase was appointed as captain. Someone who had not played Test cricket for two years and never captained any team of note. Butcher said at the end of May, “We’re struggling, and the struggle is not over. We haven’t hit rock bottom yet. The concentration of power across all three formats in the hands of one coach and selector – Sammy – is what is going to finally push us to the bottom. I mean, madness. How can you coach three teams? How can you be the only selector for three teams? It’s just absolute madness!” Dr Shallow, the blame for the shameful performance of our Test cricket team rests squarely on your shoulders. Your CWI fired the red ball coach, your CWI fired the selectors, your CWI hand-picked the new red-ball coach. The Test team has been decimated by Sammy dropping players who did not deserve to be dropped. The gamble to bring back known underperformers backfired and as result, Shallow, your CWI has set our Test team further behind by years. I do not know why you are calling our batting legends to an emergency meeting as your CWI has taken the WI to the lowest depths we have ever sunk: bowled out for 27, the second score lowest in Test history. Mitchell Starc took six for nine and is now the fastest to five wicket (15 balls); Scott Boland had a hat-trick; seven WI batsmen make ducks (previous record six); it's first time top six batsmen made less than ten runs in an innings, and the list goes on. All courtesy the CWI. We are now firmly the laughing stock of the world. Andrew Thompson (seventh president of the US, 1827-1837) said, “any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes is right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.” Unfortunately, supreme power resides with the CWI and the boredom that is associated with the eulogies of West Indian cricket will continue to resonate in the near future. TERRENCE KALLOO via e-mail The post Shallow response to WI abject failure appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.