Dear Editor,
The West Indies must abandon the traditional role of coaches during games, especially Tests. Traditionally the captain was the ‘thinker’ on the team. Often there was no coach, or if there was one, his job was to prepare the team before the match. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to recall the name of any West Indian coach before the nineties. We remember the name of our physiotherapist rather than the name of the coach, if there was one. The cricketers today may not be as good as those of the past, but there is more preparation and strategy mainly because of the availability of more and better statistics and videos. We have only learnt of lefthanders’ natural difficulty with offspinners, for example, in the last decade or so, if that long ago. Coaches today play a much more prominent role in international cricket than they did even ten years ago. Only the West Indies were bold enough or irresponsible enough to go to the 2015 World Cup without a head coach and with an inexperienced captain to boot.
Yet our coaches (and we do not have enough of them) are too passive during games. They are held responsible for poor performances in the same way that coaches and managers are held responsible in other professional sports, but while other coaches are generally involved in just about everything their team does during the game, cricket coaches seem to expect their charges to implement or execute what they might have been instructed to do before the game. This is why so much more fuss is made about captains in cricket. That, of course, has something to do with the game`s history. Len Hutton, in 1954 was the first professional allowed to captain England. The captain had to be someone who could make a good speech, had good table manners, and was respected by the players, not because of his skill, but because of his place in the social hierarchy. West Indians should know this more than other people.
Captains today should not be expected to provide winning strategies during games. That should be primarily the responsibility of the coaching staff, who have, contrary to popular belief, a much better position, both physically and mentally, from which to view the game. The coach’s involvement should be even greater when the captain is inexperienced, which frankly should be infrequent. Fans should not be listening to experienced broadcasters pointing to obvious things to be done on the field while the coach sits wringing his hands in the stands and is then held responsible for the bad results.
We do not have to be followers in cricket. WI were the best cricketers in the world for a very long time. They must become innovators in different areas of the game.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
