THE selection of the West Indies One Day International (ODI) team to South Africa by the powers that be represents a new low in the management of cricket in the Caribbean. The make-up of the team is, in my view, a brazen, cowardly and irresponsible act of making Dwayne Bravo and other key players as the scapegoats of the pullout of the tour of India, and it reeks of punitive measures against the players who are seen as the ringleaders of the abandonment of the tour of India by the West Indies cricket team.

This goes against the agreement made with the players during the discussion that occurred in the aftermath of the pullout. As a cricket fan, I am calling on the leadership of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to do the right thing.

The WICB must recall the team and select one in line with their public commitments to the players during the talks following the India pullout. If selecting the same team and maintaining Dwayne Bravo as captain is indeed against their convictions, then if Bravo must go, Dave Cameron and the team must go along with him as well. They must man up, take the moral high ground and their resignations.

The dropping of Bravo, Sammy, and Pollard from the ODI squad to South Africa cannot be for cricketing reasons since they qualified to make the team just a month or two ago. Since then, no ODI games were played which can indicate that these players have lost form or are injured. In fact, they have been all fairly active and productive in various Twenty20 leagues around the world. Furthermore, if Dwayne Bravo must be dropped, then the principle should also apply to the rest of the India 14, including Jason Holder, who was at one point part of the players’ negotiating team along with Andre Russell who met with WIPA and the WIBC in Jamaica.

Dwayne Bravo has made it quite clear that he was representing the wishes of the majority of the players — some of whom play for both Test and ODI teams. To date, only one player — Marlon Samuels — has indicated disagreement with the action that the team has engaged.

The task force which was appointed by the WICB has assessed the situation which caused the abandonment of the tour of India and inflicted international embarrassment upon the entire Caribbean, and has clearly concluded that all three parties — the players, the WICB and the players’ association — are to be blamed, but more so the WICB. If so, why is only the leader of one party being punished?

If Dwayne Bravo no longer qualifies to lead because of this fiasco, then on what grounds are Messrs Wavell Hinds of WIPA and Dave Cameron, president of the WICB, qualified to maintain their respective positions? Why is the WICB disrespecting the report of a task force which they appointed?

In my mind, they are no more than the level of power-hungry politicians who have imposed themselves on the lives of the people of the Caribbean and continue to maintain their positions regardless of the scandals and bacchanal that occur under their watch.

I am equally disappointed in Clive Lloyd’s role in the matter as chairman of selectors, even though in his playing days he himself participated in a fair share of industrial action, including at least two strikes which resulted in second-string teams representing the West Indies. He, of all people, should understand the hardships and heavy-handed treatment that the cricket authorities continue to inflict upon cricketers in the Caribbean.

Indian sports writer, Arunabha Sengupta, earlier this year, in his disposition on the career of Clive Lloyd wrote: “The recognition from his own cricket board had been slow in coming. Lloyd had fought tooth and nail for his team of cricketers to be treated with respect, to be paid in accordance to what their enormous talents merited. The confrontations had often been bitter, never more so than during the Kerry Packer series. Following the curious decision of the board to drop three young cricketers, including Desmond Haynes, and to take away the vice-captaincy from Deryck Murray, Lloyd had resigned his captaincy. It had led a boycott that saw a second-string side play against the final Tests against the visiting Australians of 1978 and then travel to India in 1978-79.”

I can now see why his illustrious teammate, Gordon Greenidge, is not very flattering in his analysis of Clive Lloyd in 1980 when he wrote in Man in the Middle, “in my opinion alone, I don’t think Clive Lloyd will go down in history as one of the great inspirational leaders. Clive, a marvellous and instinctive cricketer, was the captain of a great team”.

Once crickets are convinced that their careers are not being treated with respect and great care by an apparently trigger-happy team of selectors and cricket board, then the mistrust will continue. The dropping of Bravo and company will not help this situation.

The fans who are not stupid will become even more disillusioned by the sport and will continue to turn to other entertainment options. As someone involved in the mentoring of young people — many of whom are interested in sport — at this point in time, I cannot, with a good conscience, encourage any young person to consider a career in playing cricket for the West Indies. As far as I am concerned, outside of some drastic intervention by sensible and well-intentioned stakeholders who really care about the game, this latest turn of nonsense in West Indies Cricket is definitely the beginning of the end. Sad! Very sad, indeed!

Pastor Wesley C Boynes resides in Bailey’s Vale, St Mary, Jamaica. Comments: wesley.boynes@kcnetwork.org