Dear Editor,
Please allow me to comment on Sir Hilary Beckles’ characterization of the disbanding of the Cricket High Performance as an act of vandalism (SN Monday April 8).
I am one of those few Caribbean citizens who only manage to get excited about cricket when West Indies or at least one West Indian is about to do something spectacular. My investment in sports has been in mind sports like chess and scrabble where one is unlikely to get injured by a missile.
But I am very aware of the diagnoses that have been made about that missing element in our players’ formation – the mental one – as he recounts. It has been commented upon ad nauseam. So the report on Sir Hilary’s comments caught my eye.
I agree with him that it is an act of vandalism but not on Richard Pybus’ part. Who employed him? One would have thought that the establishment of the HPC was in accord with the strategic plan for West Indies Cricket and that that principle had become hard-wired in the programmes for development of our cricketers and therefore protected at the recruitment level. Therefore, upon any vacancy arising, the recruiters would look for someone who subscribes to that principle and is prepared to work with it.
So, the people who employed Mr Pybus are to blame for his selection. But even so, how could he alone be responsible for the dismantling of a young institution which was implemented as a solution only recently? It appears that we have to look for quite a few vandals.
According to Dr Beckles “(Pybus) came with a view that young cricketers did not need to be exposed to the mind game…”. How long did it take for Cricket West Indies to realise that? And why was his view allowed to prevail? What about him made the board abandon the investment in time and preparation like a sand castle build by a child on the beach?
This is one example where we demonstrate that we as a people are not serious. CLR James must be turning in his grave. He is famous for two books – one on cricket (Beyond a boundary) and the other on Haiti (Black Jacobins). This report is making me think of another word with as many syllables that I just can’t pin down.
Yours faithfully,
F. Collins
