Dysfunctionality has no place in cricket

In an attempt to be more cutting edge, here is an immediate response to the news that Chris Gayle has been "sacked" as West Indian captain and replaced with Darren Sammy. This decision is one that should either have been made a good while ago or not made at all. The fact that it has been announced as part of a team selection for a tour to Sri Lanka typifies the lack of tact than runs through the WICB. Despite Gayle making noises for such a long period of time about Test cricket dying out ("I wouldn't be sorry to see the end of it") and rejecting a central contract to effectively go mercenary in search of IPL riches, he has been persisted with as skipper right up until this point. And you can see the logic - as a batsman, he can win matches on his own and frequently has done, as well as being a wicket taker with the ball and a solid fielder. As far as leading from example goes, Gayle is the best man for the job.

Sammy is less flamboyant. Yes, he can hit the ball a long way but with much less regularity than Gayle - as a batsman, his technique is questionable at best. His bowling is nothing more than military medium, but again does a job. He is far less likely to win matches for the Windies than Gayle. And yet, in the long-term, this appointment stands do bring far more success than the previous regime. This is because of Gayle's big mouth and individualistic approach. To see your captain behaving in such a way acts as a disruption in the dressing room and ensures that the focus in on off-the-field matters, rather than the next delivery faced or bowled.

Believe me when I say that cricket is a game won mostly in the mind. I am a cricketer of exceptionally limited talent. Naturally, I therefore bowl left-arm spin. My profound belief that I am mentally tougher than the batsman facing me means that I over-achieve. No matter what goes before, be it a play-and-miss or a slog for six, I believe that the next ball will be my moment. And I occasionally turn out to be right. Let your head drop, and matters get worse. Obviously this example needs to be extrapolated a great deal to reach the international scene, but the West Indies have not looked mentally sharp for a long while now. Like Pakistan, they seem a ball away from a batting collapse and when opponents put together a partnership (reference Trott and Broad this summer), they never look like taking a wicket. The body language of your opponents tell you a great deal - you either fear it or feast upon it.

One team who has come out of the other side of a crisis is Zimbabwe. Now they've been beaten in all three matches by a clearly superior South African side in their current series, but from where they've been, it's the performance that counts. And whilst the bowling has looked a long way short of the required standard, their batting has been more than a match for the Proteas. Gone are the distractions of political interference (for now) as are the pressures for the team to fulfill the requirements of the ICC's Future Tours Programme. By withdrawing from Test cricket in 2005, they have given themselves the opportunity to rebuild. Now, veterans such as Tatenda Taibu and Grant Flower return to the side with the wisdom they have gained elsewhere, alongside exciting new talent, such as the ludicrously talented opening batsman/keeper/occasional off-spinner Brendan Taylor. They'll be back soon. And all because the off-field distractions have been taken away and they have given themselves time to rehabilitate.

Here's hoping that Sammy can reunite the Windies and that the WICB make the difficult decisions right when they need to be made. Failing that, it's probably best to bury your head and run with what you've got, rather than backtracking and looking like morons. Again.
RM