Appointment of Chris Gayle as WI Captain

Well so much for my previous article regarding the captaincy of the West Indies Team. I mentioned that I thought the appointment of Darren Ganga as captain following the injury to Ramneresh Sarwan was a positive move. I believe he has the skills needed to be a good captain and that he appointment was a good number of years late.
Anyway so much for what I think. The WICB and the selectors proceeded to rubbish my thoughts. There was an apparent disagreement between them as to who should captain the West Indies for the ODI's and also the 20/20 matches. Should it be Darren Ganga or Chris Gayle? The WICB, and quite rightly so, thought Ganga should be captain (though it appears that not everyone on the board agreed). The selectors felt slighted as their choice of captain Gayle was rejected by the WICB. There was a stand-off! The selectors then threatened to resign and therefore a special meeting of the WICB was called to rectify the matter. The result of all this was that Ganga was rejected as captain and sent home from the tour and Gayle was appointed captain for the ODI's and 20/20's.
Well no sooner than he was appointed Gayle goes to his online diary at cricinfo (see http://blogs.cricinfo.com/sg_tourdiaries/archives/2007/06/looking_forward_to_some_action.php)I hear and blasts the WICB on a number of issues. Now whether his talking out is right or wrong you decide. But I believe the good old rule of thumb applies here, it is not what you say but how you say it. The bottom line is that Gayle as captain can say what he wants to but he has to be very careful about how he says it. He said what he said on cricinfo the wrong way and now based on what I heard on BBC radio this morning the WICB ( see - http://content-wi.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/299674.html)had now put him on a short leash. The WICB say they will deal with him when the tour is concluded and also any further infractions on his part on tour will be met with severe sanctions. What sort of example has he set for the team already?
This is why I preferred Ganga as captain. Captaincy is more than just performance. There are other intangibles such as good interpersonal skills, insight, discernment and more. Go back to Brian Lara - the best batsman the world has ever seen, but no good as a captain. He just did not have the intangibles. Gayle lacks these skills as well and therefore should not be captain.

West Indies Tour of England

I can quite understand the present wave of optimism flowing through the West Indies cricket team. It may seem like we have been here before. But for me the biggest contributor to the most recent hype is the appointment of Darren Ganga as 'skipper' or captain. His appointment for me is roughly five years too late but 'better late than never' as the saying goes. Had we been serious about our cricket in the region he would have been captain at age 22 years much the same way South Africa did it with Graeme Smith. But our administrators were too cowardly and many of our fellow West Indians too fickle to realise that we needed to plan for the future. We took a gamble on Brian Lara that he could all by himself cure the ills of the 'Windies' by means of his abundant talent. What they failed to realise was that Mr. Lara needs strong management like any other super-talented athlete in the Caribbean. Ganga was that level head that was needed. In my view he has excellent leadership skills and though many knock his performance with the bat, and I tend to agree with them, I however think it is due the fact that the vibes in the team isn't right. If you don't give leaders a chance to lead they tend to rebel or drift away. I think that is what happened to Ganga. After all his performance for Trinidad and Tobago are not that bad, are they?
Well all that is in the past and guess what, we had to appoint him captain anyway. I expect his leadership skills to blossom out fully and no doubt as his confidence increases and his players begin to trust his abilities we all will see on display one of the best captains that the West Indies would have seen in quite a long while.

Clive Lloyd's Criticism of Sarwan's Test Omission

I agree with Clive Lloyd's criticism of the omission of Ramnaresh Sarwan from, I believe it was, the second test match between West Indies and Pakistan in the Jamaica Observer of December 15, 2006. From the get go I thought it was another stroke of genius from "THE PRINCE and his Merrymen" and who incidentally or maybe not went on to make a double century batting one down. This is where Sarwan normally bats of late. Sarwan was, as the officiall explanation goes, out of form. I say it is another feather in the hat of THE PRINCE at the expense of West Indies cricket and that of another young talented cricketer.

I can't wait until the CWC 2007 come and goes and THE PRINCE finally goes too. Yeah, he will go out as the top batsman in the world or at least surely one of the greatest, and he deserves it. He has been a class act as a batsman but as a captain he has been pathetic. And what is more he has gotten three bites at the captain 'cherry' and has failed miserably all three times. I believe that THE PRINCE thinks too much and tries too hard when he becomes captain and therefore creates problems for himself and for everybody else. For balance I must knock the West Indies Cricket Board who have facilitated the reign of THE PRINCE. I wonder what are they going to doing when THE PRINCE has to leave in 2007?