Give WI team a power lift

IMO RAMESES BAKARI

THE WOES in West Indies cricket cannot be fairly placed entirely into the laps of players and captains. The many reasons for our demise and apparent inability to climb out of the gutter have been analysed by a plethora of writers including yours truly.

Our climb out of the gutter has been long and arduous and the rate at which we are progressing it appears we will remain buried for a very long time. We can get out, but our past and even current boards do not engender great confidence.

Patterson, Whiby and others have done fantastic work in analysing the issues and making appropriate recommendations. Yet these directors continue to elevate non-issues above the fundamentals. Our captains and coaches continue to make the right analyses, yet nothing improves or certainly not for very long.

Where do we go from here? I have heard Kieron Pollard stating over and over that the batsmen need to put their hands up including himself. I have heard him and the coach talk about situational awareness, poor shot selection, the need to build partnerships, rotating the strike and better application.

All of the foregoing are quite logical and doable. However, our players, particularly our batsmen, seem incapable of rising to the challenge. A batting line-up consisting of Shai Hope, Darren Bravo and Nicholas Pooran is without a doubt blessed with great talent. But as we are well aware, talent and promise are not worth anything without tangible performances.

Talent is not the issue, therefore what are the real shortcomings? Are they poor coaching, poor leadership, poor students of the game, mentally compromised players or totally unmotivated ones?

I want to reiterate that the mess that is West Indies cricket does not solely lie at the feet of the players and captains. I am making this point to say that in the department of leadership of the white-ball teams, Pollard continues to amaze me, of course not with his performances.

He has shown himself to be a very eloquent speaker who correctly identifies the issues. However, any leader who is worth their salt will do exactly what he is asking his players to do. His deputy Pooran is also quite adept in making sound analyses.

Pollard averages 26 in One-Day Internationals, 25 in T20s and 30 in the IPL, quite ordinary statistics for the leader of an international cricket team. His statistics illustrate how lowly we are as a team in the sense that if we had really top performers he would not have been even able to make the team.

As I said in a previous article, Cricket West Indies (CWI) provided Pollard with a golden opportunity to establish himself as a player and captain when he was appointed the white-ball captain. Sad to say he has not been able to do that. What he has done is to give us a once-in-a-long-time performance and many eloquent speeches properly identifying the issues.

I reiterate yet again, this is not to put Pollard in the bamboo but to say leaders must lead and if they cannot they have forfeited their moral authority to call on their charges to perform when they themselves are failing as their team. Whoever is the captain, this remains the gold standard.

Clive Lloyd and Vivian Richards not only led well but possessed the moral authority, backed up by their performances. Even Brian Lara, who enjoyed minimal success as a captain, maintained a high level of moral authority through breathtaking performances in myriad impossible situations.

My main message is neither Pollard nor Kraigg Brathwaite can hide behind analytical and eloquent speeches without showing the flock how it should be done. I am giving Pollard an A for speeches but a D for performance. He must let his bat sing and give the team a power lift – after all he is a very powerful man – or give away to someone else.

Imo Rameses Bakari is a psychologist consultant and life coach