Coaching conundruma

Cricket West Indies should not have to look outside of the Caribbean for a batting coach when the region has the likes of Sir Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, two of the greatest batsmen the Caribbean has ever produced, says former Barbados and West Indies fast bowler Milton Small.

The 57-year-old Small’s comments follow the recent disappointing 2-0 Test series whitewash West Indies received at the hands of South Africa, and he scoffed at the move of having a batting coach from outside the West Indies. West Indies most recent batting coach has been Monty Desai, who has had previous coaching roles with the likes of Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and regional teams in his India homeland. Desai, who has never played international cricket, has not been with the West Indies team in recent times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Batting wise I don’t think that we have to be looking out of the region for a batting coach when we have two of the greatest batsmen that the West Indies ever produced here in Barbados, Sir Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes. You have others from throughout the Caribbean who have made a major contribution to West Indies cricket and yet still we are going out of the region to bring in a batting coach which I find to be far-fetched,” Small told Barbados TODAY.

Small acknowledged that it was a tough series against the Proteas and added the West Indies bowlers did a reasonably good job. But like many other observers who followed the series, Small said the batting was a major letdown.

“The series was a very tough one for the West Indies. We went into the series ahead of South Africa in the Test rankings but we did not play as though we were ahead of them in the points standings. I think that the bowlers did a reasonable job but it is the batting that let us down more often than not.

“We weren’t getting any starts and to set a foundation, you must get a start. If you don’t get a start you will run into trouble. Playing Test cricket is supposed to last for five days and if you get bowled out before tea on the first day, automatically you will find yourself in trouble and scheduled to lose the Test match.

“I think that it was mentioned that we don’t play enough cricket but I don’t think that is the case because, in times gone where we used to play four games in a season, it had players who used to score five hundred runs in those four games. Carlisle Best, Thelston Payne and those fellas batting wise used to command batsmanship,” Small said.

Small, who represented the West Indies in England on the 1984 tour, but was unfortunate to come along in an era where the regional side was blessed with the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Winston Davis, said that if West Indies are to improve and stamp their authority on the world stage, there was a need to get some of the premier batsmen away from T20 cricket. He said the likes of Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran should be focusing more on playing the longer versions of the game.

“I think that what we need to do to improve is that we need to get a core of players and pull them away from this T20 cricket. I find that this T20 cricket is causing them to play a lot of loose shots. Test cricket is supposed to be tight, look to build an innings but with T20 cricket, you go and hit two, three fours and it is all about excitement.

“We need to pull away our major batsmen, we need to pull away the Hetmyers and those fellas from playing this T20 cricket, get them into playing the longer version of the game to see where they go from there. The Poorans, those fellas we need to develop them into playing the longer version of the game instead of looking to go after, and I don’t blame them for looking to go after their future where money is concerned, but we need to pull them away from that T20 cricket and get them to play the longer version of the game,” Small explained.

Considering how dismal the regional side performed against South Africa in the two-match Test series, Small said he does not believe some of the cricketers have a genuine passion for the game based on their attitudes.

“In one or two of them [you see the passion] but you have some of them who are in the team, they are settled in the team and you can see it in the way that they play. They are going around as though it doesn’t matter to them as to what happens.

“You see them play a Test match, they lose the Test match within three and a half days and the next thing you see them come out for the presentation and they come out laughing and skinning their teeth. No seriousness about what they are doing,” Small said.

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb