Some time ago, some five years or so back, I wrote that West Indies cricket could not get any worse than it was at the time. Since then, I have written the same thing over and over again because of one thing or another. This time, however, I really believe that things have got so bad with West Indies cricket that it just cannot get any worse.
And, this time, it is not the fault of the players, or mostly the fault of the players.
It is, unquestionably so, the fault of those in charge.
This past week, the problem was exposed in no uncertain manner. In fact, there were two perfect examples.
In St Kitts, Professor Hilary Beckles, principal of the University of the West Indies' Cave Hill campus and a director of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), speaking at the Frank Worrell Memorial Lecture Series, among other things, made the following remarks.
"Frank Worrell is the father of the nation, Sobers is the king of cricket, Clive Lloyd is the statesman, Richards is the general of the army, Brian Lara is the prince, and Chris Gayle is the don."
He went on: "And these are very interesting images indeed because the movement from the father to the don, and those who follow him and his cohort in the team, do relate to him as their don, and he has brought, it is said, the 'donmanship' into how "tings" operate in the team, and what the West Indies board is trying to do at the moment is to uproot this donmanship out of the culture in much the same way that the Jamaican people are trying to uproot Dudus from their politics, this West Indies Under-19 team is some interesting collection of very smart and bright young men and there is a different quality of personality at the moment."
And then he said: "They do not wish to be like Chris Gayle, they do not wish to be like ahm, ah, Marlon Samuels ... ."
Not a don like Dudus
I know the professor and I do not believe he meant to refer to Gayle as a don, not a don like Dudus. I know the director likes Gayle for his batting and is passionate about West Indies cricket. I know he could not mean what he said in St Kitts about the West Indies Board trying to uproot Gayle from West Indies cricket in the same way that the Jamaican people are trying to uproot Dudus from the society.
And although Beckles spoke about some "very smart and bright" young men in the Under-19 team and said that they do not wish to be like Gayle and Samuels, I refuse to believe that he meant what he said, and when heard what he said, on both issues, he must have been deeply sorry that he said it.
Many are the West Indian fans who, in recent times, in the midst of their disappointment, after some poor performances, have been heard to say equally bad things, sometimes worse things, about members of the West Indies team.
I have heard the fans refer to West Indies players in some really derogatory terms, and I have heard them say that the players of today are not like the players of yesterday.
The truth, however, is that Beckles is not a normal fan. Beckles is an educated man, he is a professor, he is principal of the university, he is a director of the WICB, he should not have said it, and if he is sorry that he said it - especially if he did not mean it - he should, immediately and unreservedly, say "I am sorry" to Gayle for linking him with Dudus.
Christopher Gayle, by his actions in the past, is no angel, but he is a good cricketer, and like all of us, he has a right to do what he wants to do, just as the board has a right to do what it wants to do in the interest of West Indies cricket.
The board, however, is obligated to be open and fair in its dealings with the players.
The WICB has tried to distance itself from Beckles' comments by saying that he was speaking for himself in St Kitts and not the board, but that is difficult to do.
Uproot this 'donmanship'
Beckles obviously knows what he was talking about when he said: "And those who follow him and his cohort in the team do relate to him as their don, and he has brought, it is said, the donmanship into how 'tings' operate in the team and what the West Indies board is trying to do is to uproot this donmanship out of the culture ...".
He may have spoken out of turn, but although he is a man who wears many caps, he is one and the same man, he has one mouth, and when he speaks, he speaks for all of them. He cannot say, "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Tonight I am speaking as ..."
He cannot be one man one moment and another man the next moment. It is totally impossible.
The other example of one of the things which is destroying West Indies cricket took place in Jamaica where violence took centre stage in the lead-up to the Jamaica Cricket Association's (JCA) annual general meeting.
JCA divided
For over a year now, the JCA has been divided into two factions, one led by its president, Paul Campbell, one by its first vice-president, Lyndel Wright. There have been accusations of wrongdoing on Campbell's part, there were claims of sabotage by Wright, and last Monday night, at 10:30, two nights before the annual general meeting, the acting secretary, Ian Brown, one of Wright's men, was allegedly beaten in his office at Sabina Park and the police were called in.
Right around the region, and especially in Guyana, local board members are fighting for power, and therein lies some of the West Indies' problems.
Something, other than cricket, must be in West Indies cricket why men are fighting over who is in charge.
At last Wednesday night's AGM, Wright won the vote 55 to 35 and the members of Campbell's slate all withdrew from the polls. That means that Wright now controls the executive, and hopefully, although there is no guarantee, that means that things will return to normal in the JCA.
With Campbell claiming that Wright sabotaged him when he was in power, the hope now is that there will be no tit-for-tat and that the business of Jamaica's cricket, and regional cricket, will run smoothly, as it did in the years of men like Allan Rae, men whose only interest was cricket.
