By Wayne Cadogan From Caribbean360

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Sunday June 1, 2014 – Yet another player has been given a raw deal by the West Indies Cricket board after giving of their best and an undying service to West Indies cricket. When the Caribbean was unable to fulfill the coffers of the so called mother country and the islands started to become a liability, she dumped them one by one through giving them independence.

Now the West Indies Cricket Board is using the same tactics with its players after providing yeomen service to the West Indies cricket team throughout the years and their usefulness as a player became questionable, they were all abruptly and surprisingly discarded from the team. One can go as far back as Sir Garfield Sobers and a myriad of great players that have since followed him, with the latest being the former captain Darren Sammy.

It is not so much the dropping of a player, but the callous manner in which they are on occasion dispatched from the team. Darren Sammy may not have been one of the greatest cricketers to play for the West Indies, but he was a great leader and team player, always giving of his best and that is 100% at all times. A business cannot be successful unless it has a competent leader, the same goes for the West Indies cricket team.

Sammy came into West Indies cricket at a time when it was on a downward slide and morale was low. He was able to help turn the team around and mold the team into a formidable and competitive team. Sammy did not deserve to be treated in the manner in which he was treated after achieving so much in bringing respectability back to the team internationally. Sammy did not select himself as captain of the West Indies team; it was thrust upon him at a time when the team was down in the doldrums.

Sammy’s place was always questionable as a player by the media and fans, some said that he was not good enough to make the team and that he was keeping Dwayne Bravo out of the team and some felt that because he was from one of the so called small islands that he should not have been captain. A team is made up of 11 players and each player is supposed to pull his own weight, otherwise the team will not be balance and that has been the case of the West Indies team for years.

It can be said, and the facts are there for all to see, that Sammy has been one of the most successful captains since the 90’s era. Since his inclusion as captain, he has also been one of the leading wicket takers if not the leading wicket taker. Recently, the West Indies coach stated there was an imbalance in the team and with Sammy’s retirement that imbalance can now be corrected by including another fast bowler.

Last year I suggested to Sammy amidst all the controversy to give up the captaincy of the test team after he was stripped of the One Day captaincy and put the ball in the Board’s court regarding their selection of him as a player for the test team. The same advice that I gave to Sammy, I gave years ago to two of our greatest players, one was ceremoniously discarded after scoring a very, very big score and the other retired before the Board got the opportunity to give him his walking papers, he smelled a rat and bailed first.

A few weeks ago after Sammy was dropped as captain, I tweeted him and suggested to him, not advised, to retire from West Indies cricket and go and play IPL cricket and make some money and invest it wisely for his remaining cricketing years. I also said to him, that he had the honour and privilege of captaining the West Indies cricket team and many a great player before him never had that honour or privilege and that nobody can take that away from him and that history will show that.

My advice to him now, since the Board does not want him, is to give up the captaincy of the 20/20 team and let the Board decide if they want to retain him as a player, because he may be causing an imbalance in that form of the game also.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.caribbean360.com/sports/wayne-cadogan-darren-sammy-should-resign-as-2020-captain

Windies urged to reconsider Narine exclusion

From Cricket365

The West Indies Cricket Board have been implored to reconsider spin bowler Sunil Narine for the first Test squad, ahead of this month’s three-match series against New Zealand.

Narine was not selected after choosing to represent the Kolkata Knight Riders in Sunday’s Indian Premier League final against the Kings XI Punjab in Bangalore, rather than return to the Caribbean for a preparatory camp.

“I put it to you that allowing Narine to participate in the final of the IPL on 1 June as a West Indian, as an ambassador of Caribbean brilliance and then ensuring that he arrives at the West Indian training camp post haste does not, will not, and cannot breach any of the tenets of your country first policy,” Trinidad and Tobago sports minister Anil Roberts insisted in a letter to WICB president Dave Cameron.

“In fact, this addendum to the policy which may serve Sunil today, will serve Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith, Lendl Simmons, Krishmar Santokie and any other great West Indies Cricketers in the future.

“Narine is not on holiday with his family, he is not shopping, and he is not viewing the NBA play-offs. He is plying his professional trade in what stands as the epitome of international quality cricket in the world today.

“He is plying that trade not for himself but for the people of the Caribbean who will turn on their television sets and tune in with 1.3 billion people across the globe to support the West Indian Narine.”

The 26-year-old Narine has enjoyed a fine stretch of form this month, gathering the second most wickets in the lucrative Twenty20 tournament, including a telling haul of four for 20 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

“For us to ask any player to forego the opportunity to grasp greatness to attend the first few days of a training camp is itself in breach of the very policy that it is designed to uphold, for there can be no greater preparation or training, than plying your trade at peak adrenalin, peak emotional levels, peak risk factors, peak psychological levels,” added Roberts.

The Windies and Black Caps will meet for three Tests – in Jamaica, Trinidad and a venue to be confirmed – and two Twenty20 Internationals – in Dominica – between 8 June and 6 July.

For more on this story go to: http://www.cricket365.com/news/story/9334269/Windies-urged-to-reconsider-Narine-exclusion