Deryck Murray: We have a world record for a team in the rebuilding phase.
- file
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC)
An irate president of the Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board, Deryck Murray, believes that the only way West Indies cricket can move forward is when officials stop fooling themselves into believing that the team is in a rebuilding phase.
Murray was speaking at the Sports Desk Thinking Sport series, entitled, Rebuilding West Indies cricket, at the Cascadia Hotel and Conference Centre here this week.
"If we win a Test match in 2008 and people say that we have started the rebuilding process, then this is a disgrace to all the players who have worn the maroon cap before," said Murray, also a West Indies cricket board director.
"We have a world record for a team in the rebuilding phase. We have been rebuilding for 15 years and the process still continues. The only time we would rebuild West Indies cricket is when we stop fooling ourselves and start doing the things that would take our cricket back up the ladder.
"Another foolish thing some people say is that we would be back to winning ways because we have players with talent. Well, I have news for them and that is, every country has talent and this means nothing if the talent is not turned into progress.
"We in the Caribbean are always looking for the easy way out and this is doing us no good. What is needed at this time is for fans in the Caribbean to pressure all stakeholders to ensure that they do the right things to initiate the rebuilding process."
Murray said the only way West Indies could start winning again was for them to instil a measure of pride within their cricket.
He pointed to the days when Learie Constantine and George Headley played the game for pride and nothing else and also drew an analogy using top golfer Tiger Woods.
Pride
"Every golf coach in the world knows what Tiger Woods does to win majors. However, what makes the difference in his play is pride," Murray contended.
"Cricketers of years gone by played for pride. You wanted to represent the region and wanted to win.
"Today, it is not about pride, but money. This is the driving factor and once the players don't have pride in their game, it's no use."
The former Windies Test vice-captain said the WICB needed to start working with the Under-13 cricketers and breathe a different culture into West Indies cricket.
"We need to catch these players at the Under-13 level and move from there. At this age we can work with them and get them to understand the history of the game," Murray said.
Fans of the West Indies cricket team display a message while watching the last minutes of the first Test match against Sri Lanka at the Guyana National Stadium in Providence on Wednesday. Sri Lanka got a historic first win in the Caribbean as they defeated the West Indies by 121 runs.
- AP
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