Dear Editor
When in 1975/76, I endured sleepless nights huddled by a Cathy radio, along with my father, as Australia drubbed the West Indies match after match; there was still a feeling deep within me and millions of West Indians that it was only a matter of time before West Indies would start to win. Jeff Stollmeyer and others at the helm of the then West Indies Cricket Board of Control (WICBC) had, a few years prior to that, made the bold move and appointed Clive Lloyd as West Indies captain and Dereck Murray from Trinidad and Tobago as his deputy. It was a decision which the Trinidadians did not take easily but as time proved; the West Indies team went on to become world champions and members of that team were the foundation on which their invincibility was built. Despite all the mediocrity I have seen espoused by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) over the years and the fallacy of the so called militancy of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), I have never felt such helplessness and hopelessness as I feel now about West Indies cricket. That the WICB and the selection panel can spew such rubbish to the West Indian public to justify their ridiculous selection of what they call “A West Indian Team” is tantamount to disrespect of the highest order and to say the least “It stinks of arrogance.” I will refrain from individual attacks on the “Panel of Selectors” but it is difficult for me to proceed without really questioning their ability to be logical in their analysis. In particular Clyde Butts, who I know personally, and respect as a cricketer and individual.
