IN life there is usually much more than meets the eye.

We are drawn to make that observation because of comments attributed to West Indies cricket coach Mr Otis Gibson following the humiliation of the regional team by Pakistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup quarter finals.

Mr Gibson was highly critical of his “senior players”, suggesting they had not pulled their weight during the tournament. He also seemed to be saying that changes involving these senior players would have to be made ahead of the Pakistan tour of the West Indies scheduled to take place in a matter of weeks.

Note Mr Gibson’s comment that: “There is not much time until the Pakistan series and there are serious decisions to be made, decisions about players, in that time. This tournament has seen the emergence of some young players and those are the players that we will build our future on.”

We are totally in agreement with Mr Gibson with regards to his reference to young players. Indeed, we made that exact point in this space a week ago.

But we notice that even while castigating the so-called “senior players” — quite understandably interpreted by the media to mean Messrs Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan — he has given a strong vote of confidence to the West Indies captain Mr Darren Sammy.

Note Mr Gibson’s words in relation to Mr Sammy: “The captain didn’t make runs that he was expected to make, but I don’t expect to see a change of leadership at all… He didn’t set out to be captain, he has been made captain and he is doing his best to lead the team.”

But it seems to us that Mr Gibson has chosen to ignore a most fundamental point. It is that West Indies cricket cannot afford to ‘carry’ a captain. Any West Indies captain must be able to make the team in his own right as a player.

The harsh reality is that Mr Sammy failed as a player during the tournament. His disappointing performance as a batsman was among the major causes for those awful middle to late order collapses. And his bowling, his forte, was often disappointing.

This newspaper was among those supporting the appointment of Mr Sammy last year, since we felt that the decision of the then captain Mr Chris Gayle not to sign a retainer contract left the West Indies Cricket Board with little choice. But in the current circumstances we feel the selectors and the West Indies Cricket Board will have no option but to review Mr Sammy’s status.

We believe that Mr Gibson, the regional selectors, and the executive of the West Indies Cricket Board should see the wisdom of our advice.

It can’t be that the so-called senior players are castigated while the failings of the captain are ignored. What goes for the goose should also be in order for the gander.

Further, if there are difficulties with the senior players, separate and apart from their performance on the field, Mr Gibson, et al should say so. That’s the decent thing to do.