Tony Becca
THE WEST Indies Cricket Board is expected to name the new captain of the West Indies team any time now, and it is any body's guess who it will be.
Listening to coach Bennett King and convenor of selectors Joey Carew, it can be any one of seven. According to them, it can be one of Ramnaresh Sarwan, Christopher Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Denesh Ramdin, Daren Ganga, Sylvester Joseph and Brian Lara.
The problem, however, is to select one from such a large number - a problem that could suggest that West Indies cricket is not short of captains and is in good hands.
On the other hand, however, the number of candidates could suggest also that West Indies cricket is not in good hands, that West Indies is scraping the barrel to find a captain, and looking at the candidates, that definitely seems to be the case.
Gayle, for example, is not even the captain of Jamaica, and apart from his poor relationship with the team and despite the success of the team without him and under Tamar Lambert, Hinds, who is not now in the Test team, has had a disappointing run as captain of Jamaica.
STILL A COLT
As promising as young Ramdin appears, he is still a colt, he is still learning the trade, he is still trying to cement his place on the team. And as far as Ganga is concerned, he too, after many opportunities, is still attempting to maintain a place on the team.
As well as he is reported to have done substituting for Chanderpaul in Sri Lanka and as well as he did against England 'A', Joseph, on the other hand, is not now in the team. With Marlon Samuels around and Runako Morton doing well in New Zealand, he is unlikely to get into the team in the near future.
Lara has been there twice before without really making a difference, and Sarwan, who is short of captaincy experience, has not demonstrated the maturity necessary for the job.
The fact, however, is that the West Indies need a captain, they have to have a captain, they can only select from what they have and hope and pray for the best. After naming him the vice-captain of the team, not once but twice, it seems only logical that Sarwan, one of the few players who are certain of a place on the team, should be elevated to the captaincy.
SHORT OF GOOD CAPTAINS
The reality of the situation is that West Indies cricket is short of good captains and good leaders; it has been so for some time now, and as King has said, it is one of the areas that the West Indies need to look at.
"It is an area in our cricket which we need to try to nurture and develop, and great leaders just don't fall out of trees," said the Australian coach. "They come along every now and then, and if they are backed up with a very good team, people automatically think that they are good leaders, but that is not always the case either."
King is right, but as Chander-paul and those immediately preceding him, including Lara, found out, the opposite is also true. It is difficult to be a good captain when leading a weak team.
John Goddard was not a good captain, nor was he a great leader, but he was the captain of the West Indies team that thrashed England in 1950.
The players on that West Indies team were motivated - self-motivated. They did not need any one to motivate them - they were disciplined, dedicated and focussed, and with batsmen like Jeffrey Stollmeyer and Allan Rae, Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott, with an all-rounder like Gerry Gomez, with two spin bowlers like Sonny Ramadhin and Alfred Valentine, they were a great team with one aim.
All they needed was an official captain.
As King has said, as history has proven, the best sides are those that are self-driven and that, more than a captain and a leader, more than a magician, is what West Indies cricket needs - players who are self-motivated, players who train and practice, players who are driven to excellence, and players who will die for each other.
