Regional Cricket - Right or Wrong Path?

EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT TEAMWORK but few know how it really works. West Indies cricket bestrode the world like a colossus for two decades but surrendered that position, some would argue voluntarily, due to lack of vision, commitment and insensitivity to the principle that only someone who has made it to the top of a mountain knows what it takes to get there.

Continuing lack of success has led to change of managers, coaches and players with faint glimmer of a turnaround. We have heard of the need for academies, camps and recently schools of excellence. We are yet to hear of new rules for recruitment or that each level of success calls for a higher level of teamwork.

Australia currently rules world cricket and seems destined to continue. We hear that new team-entrants usually have already scored thousands of first class runs or taken over one hundred wickets. We recruit or are forced to recruit players who have hardly scored their first century or taken five wickets in an innings (or match?).

What does this tell us? What are we doing about it? What analysis is used to determine the suitability of aspirants for such high office as membership of Team West Indies? After all, this is the field in which we have won for ourselves greatest recognition on the world stage. Does the selection process look to personality, passion, potential, consistency and profile?

All the world's great and successful corporations are especially careful, selective and demanding of recruits. Their first hurdle is to determine the type of applicant, what motivates them – whether results, recognition or money. Are they loners or team players? Will they fit the team's culture and add value?

Readers may be wondering what all this is about. History has shown that team success largely hinges on character. You can buy brains but you cannot buy character. All great teams have great depth. When West Indies were great, there were able players sitting on the bench yearning for an opportunity to perform. Today, we scrape the barrel to find not suitable but rather adequate replacements.

Some argue that our standards of discipline are too low. That levels of commitment we demand are driven, but perhaps overcome, by a fear of poor replacements. Losing team members is par for the course and must be part of the planning and succession process. If a team keeps non-productive people, then the productive ones become frustrated and often seek a home where success is the 'way of life'. There is a saying in the corporate world that 'the only place that never loses people is the cemetery'.

Better players make one a better player. West Indies administrators must pay urgent attention to the standards, or lack of, in regional competition. Values are key to setting the standard for a team's performance and also attract people with like values. The success of a good leader is often determined by the quality people with whom he surrounds himself.

We must remember what gets rewarded is what gets done.