Tony Becca

West Indies cricket is in dire straits in the long run its salvation is in the hands of the players, I strongly believe that the continued impasse between the board and the players association and the recent problems between the board and the players form a great part of the problem, and, in last Sunday's column, I begged all three - the board, the players association, and the players, to bury the hatchet - to put away their guns in the interest of West Indies cricket.

Friendly atmosphere necessary

It has long been said that a house divided cannot stand, history has proven that to be right and, regardless of all the problems that may and will arise from time to time, unless the board, the players association and the players can work together, West Indies cricket will never ever return to its former glory or even get near to it.

A good, friendly atmosphere is important to learning, it is important to development, it is important to performance and, unless the atmosphere around West Indies cricket is good, unless the board and the players association, especially, can forget their ego and provide that atmosphere, it will be difficult for the players to be committed to excellence and therefore to devote the time necessary to achieve excellent performances.

Remembering that they are the ones who are engaged in the battle, remembering that they are ones who bat, bowl and field, in the final analysis, however, board or no board, players association or no players association, the future, the success of West Indies cricket will depend on the players - just as it did in the days of Learie Constantine, George Headley, Manny Martindale and Herman Griffith, Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes, Clyde Walcott, Sonny Ramadhin, Alfred Valentine and Gerry Alexander, Gary Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Conrad Hunte, Wes Hall, Charlie Griffith, Jackie Hendriks and Lance Gibbs, Clive Lloyd, Sir Viv Richards, Lawrence Rowe, Alvin Kallicharran, Larry Gomes, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Jeffrey Dujon, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh, Curtley Ambrose, Richie Richardson, Gus Logie and, of course, Brian Lara.

Respect for the game

Respect is one of the reasons why people work together in the spirit of one for all and all for one. On Sunday, I begged the board, the players association and the players to respect each other - in the interest of West Indies cricket.

Today, however, after speaking to an outstanding Jamaican sportsman of yesteryear on Sunday, after talking to Alva Anderson - a successful business-man who once played football and hockey for Jamaica and who also boxed for Jamaica after winning a Cambridge Blue in that sport, I am begging the players, the cricketers, to respect the game.

As one who does not believe that one generation is less talented than another - and especially so when I remember that Headley, then Worrell, Weekes and Walcott, then Sobers and Kanhai, Rowe and Kallicharran, then Richards and then Lara followed one behind the other.

An there has been no successor to Ramadhin, Valentine and Gibbs, that Roy Gilchrist, Hall and Charlie Griffith were followed by Roberts, Holding, Garner and Croftand then by Marshall, Walsh and Ambrose, I do not believe that this present generation of West Indies cricketers is less talented than any before it.

Apart from the fact that West Indies cricket has never ever been affected by the problem now caused by the impasse between the board and the players association, the board and the players, the reason, as far as I am concerned, why this generation has failed to deliver, to make the best of its talent, is its attitude towards the game, towards practice and training and towards performance.

In days gone by, West Indies cricketers loved the game. Because they loved it, they respected it. Because they respected it, they behaved, most of them, in the manner expected of those who play the game.

Because they respected it, they knew that you can be up one day and down the following day and because of that, because of their pride in performance, they practised and they trained every day, or as often as possible, in an effort to perform as often as possible.

Train more often

While they all must love the game, based on their attitude to the game, the majority of the present players do not respect the game.

If they did, they would bat, bowl and field more often because they do not know what will happen tomorrow. They would, for example, want to perform every time they go to bat and because of that they would practise and train more often - every day if possible.

If they do that, board or no board, players association or no players association, they would perform and the West Indies would really be on their way.

It would not be long before we could truthfully say that the team has turned the corner.