Dear Editor,
Why is the West Indies not participating in the Champions Trophy? Perhaps the best, the most likely and the easiest explanation is that the current players are simply not sufficiently skilled.
That seems to be the view of Jeff Dujon. There are, however, other possible explanations that need to be considered if we wish to change the situation in which we find ourselves. One such explanation is that West Indies cricketers do not play as many international matches, indeed as much first class cricket, as other cricketers. Another is that WI teams are selected from a smaller pool of cricketers than they need because of restrictive selection criteria.
Still another is that management does not pay enough attention to coaching and preparing players for international engagements where the standards are very high and the stress level even higher. Finally, since this is the first time they did not make the cut, it may be appropriate to consider the possibility that recent and current management cared less than those before them about being in such tournaments.
Readers may recall that under President Hunte the board did not seem to be concerned, indeed, tended to encourage foreign writers when those writers suggested that the West Indies should be excluded from top competitions. The board often left the public, in my view, during that period, with the sense that they felt one way of punishing under-performing West Indian cricketers was to exclude them from top international competitions. It is incumbent on the board to give due consideration to these and any other plausible explanations, with a view to relieving West Indian fans of this most onerous burden, and if this board cannot change the trajectory before the next World Cup, hand over management to young, thoughtful people more attuned to the modern ways of doing the business of professional sport.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
