Dear Editor,
There is no doubt that cricket in the West Indies has gone from bad to worse so much so several diehard fans including have lost interest. I had to eek the assistance of my relative friend Philip Moniram Ramcharitar, a keen cricketer to update me so I can pen this piece. As a journalist I covered several test matches throughout the West Indies. I even witnessed one at cricket headquarters Lords in London and the “million dollar match” in Antigua. In my view West Indies cricket problems started with Stanford T 20 cricket with the Texan billionaire dishing out millions to boost the game .After Stanford’s involvement came to an end, cricket boards, franchise clubs, sponsors have all invested in the T20 format of the game, and less in the first class (red ball) format and as such our young aspiring first class and potential Test cricketers are not being provided the proper coaching/training techniques that would gear them to develop their skills that would allow them to perform/compete at the highest level and against top reasons cricketing playing nations. One of the main reasons for the longer version, it allows players to naturally develop their skills and prepares them for the challenges of Test match. East Canje native Shimron Heymeyer is a victim of the limited number of first class cricket being played anywhere in Berbice. Hetmeyer has never batted an entire day in an innings match because there is no first division or intercounty cricket. Leonard Baichan, an East Canje born player, enjoyed long innings in Davsons Cup and intercounty cricket. He made a century and a double century in a match not out in both innings. West Indies lost two Test matches to South Africa in two and a half and three and a half days respectively. Their next Test match will be against a solid Pakistan side who destroyed South Africa in the recent test series played in Pakistan. It does not seem to me that the West Indies coaches, selectors and officials have any concrete plans. The players failed to score more than 200 runs in any of the last four innings. This is pathetic. Pakistan is due in the Caribbean next month to play 5T20 and two test matches between July 21 and August 24. Let’s hope Coach Phil Simmons, captains, Kieron Pollard, and Kraig Brathwaite work out ways and means to defeat the tourists in order to stop the constant defeat against the Caribbean squad. It is unfortunate that West Indies cricket has deteriorated rapidly during the past decades. Former Jamaican Prime Minister, PJ Patterson, a cricket lover calls for a complete overhaul of the structure of the game in the region.
Sincerely,
Oscar Ramjeet
Secretary of the Berbice Cricket
Board
(former)
