WI : Fighting for change

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Fighting for change Garth Wattley talks WI cricket, Shiv Chanderpaul with coach Ottis Gibson Story Created: May 17, 2011 at 12:54 AM ECT (Story Updated: May 17, 2011 at 12:54 AM ECT ) GW: What were the pleasing aspects of the team's performance in the first Test? OG: I guess the fighting spirit. I guess the way they went out and executed the plans in tough conditions. It would probably be fair to say on other occasions, given the difficulty of the wicket in the first innings, we would have probably capitulated. But (the fact that) the guys hung in to bat out the first day on a very difficult pitch was very rewarding. That set us up for the fight that we had over the three and a half days. For (Darren) Sammy to perform the way he did under so much pressure was also a credit to himself, as was Ravi Rampaul who had had his fitness issues and stuff like that and was in and out of the team...He's a pleasure to work with, he works very hard at his cricket. He's got a thirst for knowledge of bowling that will only see him improving and get better as time goes on. GW: You spoke about pressure on Darren Sammy, but there would also have been pressure on you. Was it a relief to win your first Test match? OG: I could win five Test matches in a row and there'll still be pressure because there's always pressure on all coaches in all sports to continue to do well... When people think there's pressure from outside influences, I don't really feel that pressure... If I'm not preparing the team properly, then yes, I feel pressure. GW: You are not affected at all by criticisms of how selections are handled, senior players? What do you say to the critics? OG: Critics will say whatever they want to say no matter what you say or do. I say to them: I came here to do a job. My job is coaching the team and getting the best out of the players. Some players have had their say as well. I think when they reflect on the things that they've said, I think they will see that some of them were misguided, some of them were out of place and out of character as well for some of them to say some of the things that they've said. But if that's how they want to go about it, that's fine. Not everybody likes change or embraces change and my philosophy is if you remain the same, you never improve and if the team remains the same, we won't improve... I'm asking people to improve for the betterment of the team. For instance, if you're averaging 40 and the team is losing all the time, then I'm saying to you, average 50. If you average 50, maybe we will win and so forth... I won't say I don't listen because you can't help but you can't help but hear when it's being written in every paper...it's on the radio, it's on TV what players are saying, but for every player that it seems to me that has said something against the way I'm doing things in the last couple of weeks, there's also some players in the team that are saying some very positive things as well. You take it for what it is. GW: What is your working relationship with Shivnarine Chanderpaul? OG: The funny thing about it is I've always had a good relationship with Chanderpaul and to find out now that I haven't was a surprise. If he had issues, I would have expected him to come and speak to me about the issues he had rather than going in the press and saying all the things he said. But he's come back into the team, I've sat down and spoke to him. I told him what I expected from him. He understands what it means to be a part of the team, or that team that I'm trying to create, and hopefully he will buy into that. If he chooses not to buy into that, then that's his problem, but my work is building a team... You might have the best players but you don't have the best team. If we're going to get the best team, it's with the players that want to do the right thing for the team and make all their decisions based on what is right for the team. GW: How would you describe the culture of the West Indies team as you met it? How does it need to change? OG: Of course it needs to change. You just have to listen to some of the same people that are talking and if you listen carefully, you can hear the culture coming out, people talking about what they want to do. In an underperforming team, if you let everybody do what they want to do, then it will never get anywhere. So at some point, somebody's got to come in and say look, this is how I think things should be done and have a system in place and a process of how you're going to...bring about change... You're not going to please everybody in this role. GW: Do you think you are making progress in changing the culture or is there a long way to go? OG: There's still a hell of a long way to go for sure, there's no doubt about that. But at the same time, I think because I am planned and organised and because I...have a vision which I've shared with the team...I think I'm making progress. But, in life, sometimes you take two steps forward and you have to stabilise before you move forward again. My intent is to continue to move forward and move forward in a way that...if I make a mistake, I can go back and see where that mistake was made so that that mistake doesn't happen again, and there will be mistakes made. I'm not by any means perfect. GW: What would you say to West Indian batsmen about what they need to change about their approach? OG: We have a plan for every session of the game. Sometimes you get under pressure and you lose your train of thought. If your train of thought is 'what does the team require now', if you are under pressure and you go back to...doing what is right for the team, more often than not, that in itself gives you a focus. But if you are out there and you are thinking just about yourself and you feel the pressure, then you've got nowhere to go... If you have strong individuals—and we have got some very strong individuals, we've got some very talented players—if they bat for the team, bowl from the team, field for the team, then the team will benefit... Batsmen to me still have to be selfish in a way. Sometimes people have to think about getting a hundred but it is how you get that hundred. If you get that hundred in the context of what the team requires and you go and get a brilliant hundred, then the team will always benefit... (But) if the team needs you to score at eight an over and you score at six an over and make a hundred and the team loses, then that is not in the context of the team... If people put the team first and foremost in their minds, more often than not the pressure is absorbed within the team because there are 11 players in the team... GW: How do you point the players forward for the rest of the series and the rest of the year? OG: You can't suddenly start thinking that 'yes, we've conquered the world'. We have clear things we wanna achieve and winning this series is one of them... We believed that we could beat them (Pakistan) long before the series started. So to go out and win that first Test was a great achievement for the team. We go to St Kitts now with that same belief...I don't know how long it's been since we've won two Test matches back-to-back. So if we can win that, that would be another little hurdle conquered and then we start to plan for India then.

[Karan114]

Good interview, its clear he acknowledges just how terrible the culture of West Indian cricket has become and how it will take some very tough decisions to get the team working hard again (though the shambolic West Indian board is the biggest problem). If that means leaving out players like Gayle, who are unbelievably talented but lack a good work ethic, then so be it. Gayle might still be a top performing player despite his attitude simply because he is so talented but less gifted players can't get away with a poor work ethic.

[Cricket Tragic]

Good interview' date=' its clear he acknowledges just how terrible the culture of West Indian cricket has become and how it will take some very tough decisions to get the team working hard again (though the shambolic West Indian board is the biggest problem). [b']If that means leaving out players like Gayle, who are unbelievably talented but lack a good work ethic, then so be it. Gayle might still be a top performing player despite his attitude simply because he is so talented but less gifted players can't get away with a poor work ethic.

Agree completely with this. I've mentioned it on other threads that Gayle is a waste of space. Gayle is not a top performing player in ODIs anyway. His average over the past 2 years is 20. That is not bad. It's pathetic. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/51880.html?class=2;filter=advanced;opposition=1;opposition=2;opposition=3;opposition=5;opposition=6;opposition=7;opposition=8;orderby=default;spanmax1=17+May+2011;spanmin1=17+May+2009;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting

[Ultimate_Game]

Agree completely with this. I've mentioned it on other threads that Gayle is a waste of space. Gayle is not a top performing player in ODIs anyway. His average over the past 2 years is 20. That is not bad. It's pathetic. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/51880.html?class=2;filter=advanced;opposition=1;opposition=2;opposition=3;opposition=5;opposition=6;opposition=7;opposition=8;orderby=default;spanmax1=17+May+2011;spanmin1=17+May+2009;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting

He's a must have for WI though. I mean Gayle can at least win you matches occasionally and is a pretty decent Test and T20 player. Without Gayle the option WI have is Devon Smith and I'm sorry to say I would prefer Gayle with all his baggage to Devon Smith. Devon Smith makes Hafeez look like a cross between Laker, Saqlain, Harbhajan and Murali.

[f.b.m]

Agree completely with this. I've mentioned it on other threads that Gayle is a waste of space. Gayle is not a top performing player in ODIs anyway. His average over the past 2 years is 20. That is not bad. It's pathetic. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/51880.html?class=2;filter=advanced;opposition=1;opposition=2;opposition=3;opposition=5;opposition=6;opposition=7;opposition=8;orderby=default;spanmax1=17+May+2011;spanmin1=17+May+2009;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting

This waste of space also averages a downright pathetic 62 in test matches in the same time period. I can think of WI girls who can score more runs than him!

[Cricket Tragic]

Why is Smith the only choice? Smith is not the answer either. Gayle has done **** all in ODIs for ages. If you take out the minnows, his ODI career record is ****. Simmons should have played consistently long back. He made a double hundred in a tour game against England 2 years back and should have been picked since he always had the tailunt. Barath is injured and should come back in.

[Ultimate_Game]

Why is Smith the only choice? Smith is not the answer either. Gayle has done **** all in ODIs for ages. If you take out the minnows, his ODI career record is ****. Simmons should have played consistently long back. He made a double hundred in a tour game against England 2 years back and should have been picked since he always had the tailunt. Barath is injured and should come back in.

We are talking Tests here and I would even have him for odis. He's a proven player in Tests and is more likely to get runs in the odis than some of the other WI players I have seen. If given proper backing by WICB and team management Gayle would be an invaluable player for WI and WI surely can't afford to lose a player of his caliber and quality.

[Cricket Tragic]

I was talking about ODIs and made that clear in my post. Those stats are pathetic. If you're only talking tests, why the big hue and cry when he wasn't picked for the Pak ODIs? Gayle said that he didn't want to play tests after the SL tour. Has he changed his mind? He turns up a couple of days before a test series when he is the captain, says he wouldn't care if tests died and recently said that he was 'taking a break' from test cricket.

[jairamesh]

Why is Smith the only choice? Smith is not the answer either. Gayle has done **** all in ODIs for ages. If you take out the minnows, his ODI career record is ****. Simmons should have played consistently long back. He made a double hundred in a tour game against England 2 years back and should have been picked since he always had the tailunt. Barath is injured and should come back in.

This is where WI's island politics comes into play. Simmons, Barath, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Rampaul, Juggernauth all come from Tr&T but you are unlikely to see more than 2 to 3 players from here, and same goes for Jamaica, Jamaica dominates the WI first class competition but yet only see one or two players play at one time for WI. As much Inda and Pak complain selection bias driven by politics, it's nothing like in WI. I honestly think the likes of T&T and Jamaica can go it alone in international cricket. Especially T&T which has a good infrastructure backed by a strong economy.

[Zelig]

I don't know about Tests and ODIs, but I can't believe that Badree and Santokie are yet to make their T20 intl. debuts :dontknow:

[Zelig]

For those who have not seen Santokie, he is a mini-Vaas. Left arm block-hole bowler. Badree is a fast leggie. Kumble mode.

[Sachin=GOD]

What WI cricket needs is new administrators - these guys at the WICB have completely ruined WI cricket in the last few years with constant disputes between players and them. There is no dearth of talent in WI, its just a question of managing that talent well.