Post by Admin on Nov 2, 2020 7:47:24 GMT
In Conversation with Roland Butcher: Where it went and continues to go wrong for West Indies cricket
Krissania Krissania
3 days ago
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In the final installation of this revealing and scintillating chat with Roland Butcher, he outlined the major issues that contributed to the decline of West Indies cricket, as well as what is keeping us back even to this day.
Krissania: There have been many theories on why West Indies cricket continues to fall. Some say we have a talent issue; some say it’s a question of administration, others say it’s work ethic. You, however, have first-hand knowledge of the inner workings of West Indies cricket. What are your thoughts?
Roland: I do. I sit in certain positions on the West Indies Cricket Committee, so I am very much involved in the cricket, as well as being a director in the Barbados Cricket Association. Since ‘95 really, the trend has been one of decline and I think a number of reasons have been responsible for that. I think back in the 70s/80s/ the early 90s, there was a large number of West Indian players playing County Cricket and club cricket in the leagues in England, which really honed their games. [English leagues] also provided the West Indies a cadre of players in case people lost form or if players got injured: they had another group of players who were highly skilled and ready to take their place.
One of the other things that happened was, back in the 90s, when the West Indies banned all those players for going to South Africa, while at the time, it seemed it was the thing to do, in actual fact, that harmed West Indies cricket. Because the players that they removed from the scene were the next players into the West Indies team. Those were the players that, when there were injuries or loss of form, came into the team. What they actually did, by removing that entire group, was to [leave only] the third group. So, you would have [usually had] the Test and International players and the reserves. Now, you have to go to the much weaker players. When the boys at the top were getting older, you then had to replace them with somebody who really was in the third division. And somebody who comes from the third division into the first division is going to struggle. And that was the beginning of that.
People, at the time, did not pay much attention to it, because I think during that period, we were of the mindset that West Indies were so strong, whenever we wanted a cricketer, we would shake the tree and the fellow would fall out of the tree and he would represent the West Indies. But then the reality came home that there was no such thing as a tree, there must be systems that develop players and the systems that were developing our players, we then removed part of that system. Now the third-rate players just really could not step up and that also coincided with the fact that less players were now getting the opportunity to go to England to improve their game. Because England was now deciding that ‘why were we making the opposing team strong and then they are beating us?’. They then reduced the number of overseas players. That meant that West Indian players could not go to England to further their education. And over that period of time, the pitches in the Caribbean became really tired—not really of the highest standard.
K: What would you say was the cause of the fall in the standard of the pitches in the Caribbean?
R: In the Caribbean, we are not as scientific, in terms of pitches, as the rest of the world. A pitch is something that lives. In England, they will play on pitches for a period and then during the winter months, there may be two or three of those pitches that they will take out of commission. They will dig them up, replace the soil, grow them back and then the next year you would not play any cricket on those, at all. They would just look after those so that when you do play on them, in two or three years’ time, you have fresh pitches. Now what happens in the Caribbean, is that we have had pitches in the Caribbean that you’ve been playing on for fifty or sixty years. They were never ever replaced.
As I said, a pitch is something that lives. So, if you are playing on something for sixty years, and you do not replace the soil, it is going to die. So that is what happened to our pitches around the region: we played on them for sixty years [with] no renovation. They think that all they need to do is to wet them, roll them and everything will be fine. No, that old soil has to go. You’ve got to bring new soil. In those days also, when you went to a cricket venue, an International cricket venue (in the Caribbean), you would not see any more than two or three pitches, which meant that you had to play on them all the time, because you can’t take them out of commission. In England, a place like Lord’s Cricket Ground, on the square, you would have at least a dozen pitches. So, if you take three out of commission, it makes no difference—you have others to play on. Our grounds and squares are so small that we’ve got two or three pitches and that is it.
Now the 2007 World Cup gave us an opportunity, in terms of developing the stadiums, it meant that in the new stadiums, the squares got bigger. There are more pitches now on the square. But they still do not take pitches out of commission, all they do is try to rotate them, but there is a time where you have to take them out of commission. What happens is, those pitches are deteriorated, which causes bad cricket. Our batsmen have found it very difficult to play on them. The opposition, when they come to the Caribbean, they find it hard as well to play on our pitches. If you are playing on these things all the time, it erodes your confidence. Over the years, the confidence of our players has been eroded. Even at first-class level, the pitches are just so bad. So, the performances are mediocre. We just do not get players dominating our first-class game and that really is a problem. With the last couple of years, there has been a movement to try to prepare pitches with more grass to assist the faster bowlers. Now that is a step in the right direction because over time, you will get more fast-bowlers and overtime the batsmen will be able to play better on those pitches.
But we really have a lot of work to do. I think, structurally, around the region, there is still a lot of work to be done. The franchise system is a good system, but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done.
K: What changes would you then recommend be made to the regional franchise system?
R: Right now, we are currently playing ten matches, which used to be five. Ten has not really improved the standard, it just means that they are playing more games. At the franchise level, we have to ensure that the franchises have the best available coaches, not someone who is put into a position. Each franchise must have the best of the available coaches and then that is his job, that’s his profession. The players have got contracts so that is their job. Their mindsets have got to change to “I am going to work today. I’m not going to play cricket; I’m going to work. This is my job”. I still think when a lot of the region’s guys go to practice, that’s what [the problem] is, they’re going to practice. They’re not going to their jobs. That has to change.
I also do not think the franchises train enough; as a professional player, with a contract, you should train at least twice a day. You should train in the morning and in the afternoon. Nearly all the franchises will train a couple of days in the morning and that is it. That is not enough to perfect the skill of an International or a first-class player. You have got to be practicing for over long periods. For me, a maximum of 5-6 hours a day.
You can now develop your skill, now you get used to being on the field for that period of time. You do not have the problem of the third session in the day being a total washout. I mean, if you look at what happens with our cricket, the last session of the day is when our cricket goes to pieces. If we are batting, there are collapses, if we’re bowling, the bowling goes to pieces because not enough time is spent preparing for those periods. Cricket is three sessions; basically, if we’re going to play Test cricket, it’s three sessions. You cannot play two well and not the third session well, because you will lose. The other teams, because they are trying a lot harder in that third [session], when we are tiring, they are still strong. So, within the franchises, those are the things that we need to look at. We really have to look at all those things to ensure that West Indies cricket can get back on a strong footing, but it is not going to happen overnight. There is a lot of work to be done, trust me.
K: Is the Caribbean then, in your opinion, fine, talent-wise?
R: There is talent in the Caribbean. There is no question about that because our under-19s can compete with any team in the world and beat them. The problem for us comes after under-19 cricket. That is the problem in our system. Our system really does not help these players after age 19. You have the Regional Under-15, 17 and 19 and those under-19 players will go to the World Cup and when they come back from the World Cup, the next thing that they have to do is compete to get into the senior team. Madness. It just cannot happen, because, particularly now, with franchise cricket, where you have got players under contracts, an under-19 player, you know, he really is not going to get into his senior team. Therefore, you are really putting him out into club cricket [where] a player now has to go to club cricket to learn his trade. For first-class cricket, it makes no sense. What needs to happen, is that you need to have, within our system, an under-23 or under-25 regional tournament. What that will do is, it will force the franchises to not throw these players out at 19. We [need to] have another age-group.
We have now started that in Barbados. I am chairman of the Everton Weekes Centre of Excellence and we have under-13s, under-15s, under-17s and under-19s, Women’s and obviously the senior team. Now what we have done is, I have been able to persuade my Board that there is a gap that we need to close. We now have an under-23 side as part of the Centre of Excellence, who are coached by our top coaches. And now those players, when they finish under-19, they come into the under-23s. They have now got four years, still, in the academy to make it into the [senior] team. Where, before, they had no time, because they were only playing club cricket.
Now, if you replicate what has been going on around the region, every year, in actual fact; say for the last 10 years, we have discarded 100 cricketers across the region at the under-19 level each year. The most talented players we have, we have discarded them for over 10 years. That is 1000 players in a small space like the Caribbean. We cannot afford to do that; we must keep that talent. However, the West Indies are not in a position, right now, financially, to have an under-23 tournament.
What we have been able to do, in the last couple of years, you would have noticed, is that they have been putting in an Emergent Players team into the 50-over competition. It’s a beginning. It’s only a beginning, but they have recognized. [Still] that’s only looking after about fifteen players. You have six franchises, so you have 120 under-19 players that become too old every year, that disappear from the scene. It makes no sense you invest all your hard-earned capital from under-13 through to under-19, and just at the point when you really need them to go to the next level, you put them outside. So that is a gap in our system that has to be closed. If we can close that gap, trust me, we will be beating a lot of these teams around the world beyond the under-19 level.
This series covered so much, none of which would have been possible if Mr. Butcher had not been kind enough to speak with me. Therefore, on behalf of everyone who gained something from reading these three articles, I say, ‘Thank You’.