SIR GARRY FEELS T20 CRICKET IS KILLING WINDIES CRICKET BUT NOT FOR THE REASONS YOU THINK

It was a tearful Sir Garry Sobers who spoke a few days ago saying he believes that T20 cricket is killing cricket in the West Indies cricket. He was speaking just prior to the opening day of the second Test between the West Indies and hosts Sri Lanka in Colombo. At the time of writing the West Indies had put in a better showing than that did in the first Test which they lost by an inning and six runs but still find themselves behind eight ball two days into the match.

Having bowled out Sri Lanka for a paltry 200 runs to gain an early advantage in the match, the West Indies’ batsmen duly returned the four on day 3, making only 163 runs in reply. It’s like schoolboy cricket I tell you. With a lead of 37 Sri Lanka ended the day on 76 for 2, a lead of 113 runs. Something tells me that the hosts already have more runs than they need.

It makes Sobers’ tears so heartfelt especially when you consider that the trophy has his name on it. Through the tears however, he did manage to hit the nail on the head on some of what ails regional cricket and it has nothing to do with the WICB, which everyone is so quick to blame for the problems regional cricket faces.

We all agree that a lot has changed in regional and international cricket from when Sobers donned his whites for the West Indies. Back then West Indies players took the field with a sense of pride and a desire to put their colonial masters to the sword. These days, the motivations are different, vastly different.

“My whole obligation was to West Indies cricket,” Sobers said. “As I’ve always said, I have never made a run for me. I have always played for the West Indies team and it was such a pleasure and joy to be able to do what I did. You know, records meant nothing. The team was important.

“I don’t think we have that kind of person today. We might have them in different countries – we might have them in Sri Lanka, in England, in Australia – but I don’t think we have that kind of person in West Indies cricket anymore, who is quite prepared to play and give it everything for their country. And that hurts. Until we can get people who are willing to play for West Indies in the right way, I think we’re going to be struggling for a long time. Other countries are going to surpass us. “

According to the writer Andrew Fernando of Cricinfo.com, Sobers suggested that some West Indies players even focus on Test cricket only as a means to landing an IPL contract. There have been several instances of Caribbean players prioritising domestic leagues over playing for West Indies in the past few years. In January, Chris Gayle and Sunil Narine declined the retainer offered by the West Indies Cricket Board, ostensibly to remain free to play in domestic T20 tournaments.

The man considered to be perhaps the best all-rounder of all time continued: “I think T20 competitions are certainly destroying West Indies cricket, I’ll tell you that. When you look at the point of view of the players from the West Indies in particular, they come from very humble backgrounds. So if the opportunity is there for them to make money so they can help their families, then you can’t really blame them. But I think they should be able to use discretion and understand the difference. I don’t think Twenty20 will run away. I’ve always believed that Test cricket was the utmost, and if you were a cricketer, that was the sort of cricket that you’d want to play.”

“…they should be able to use discretion’ he said. Many of today’s talented players, for whom the WICB rescheduled their Test playing dates to allow them the freedom to play in whatever T20 leagues they choose to play and also grant them No Objection Certificates, yet they forget how they got to where they are today. For all the problems they have with the WICB, it is the board that has paved the way for them to earn a very good living. Yet these players forget from whence they came. I will never forget Lendl Simmons’ comments when asked why he doesn’t play Test cricket. He basically said he won’t because Test cricket is hard and for what the WICB pays, it’s not worth it. I mean, why should be play for US$5000 a day when he can be earning 100 times that playing T20 cricket for a few weeks. I should also mention that Simmons and others have rejected retainer contracts that pay them more than US$100,000 a year, money that most Caribbean nationals can only dream of.

But truth is that the WICB doesn’t have the money, and some of it is being used to pay other players across the region so they can make a career of the sport. No, the days of playing with pride and for passion have long gone, a fact not lost on Sir Garry.

“I don’t think we have that kind of person today. We might have them in different countries – we might have them in Sri Lanka, in England, in Australia – but I don’t think we have that kind of person in West Indies cricket anymore, who is quite prepared to play and give it everything for their country. And that hurts. Until we can get people who are willing to play for West Indies in the right way, I think we’re going to be struggling for a long time. Other countries are going to surpass us. “

They already have Sir Garry and it is even more hurtful that many of the players don’t seem to care and its why the fail when the play for the region. There is no passion anymore because they are not playing for the people of the region anymore. They are playing for themselves.

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