CATEGORY:SPORT (W.I CRICKET) -------------------------------- INSIDE GRENADA Wednesday April 11,2007 by Wallace J.A THE DISMAL PERFORMANCE of the West Indies cricket team in Cricket World Cup matches have sparked intense, passionate criticisms from various sections of West Indian society. Many of these ‘cricket pundits’ are confident that they know the way forward for Windies cricket, despite how uniquely impractical these ‘solutions’ may seem. Solutions range from firing the entire management team for West Indies cricket to dismissing all the players and working with a new, younger batch of players. Professor Hilary Beckles of the University of the West Indies, however, is of the view that there is a crisis of education in West Indies cricket. He is of the opinion that knowledge is not being passed on to the current generation of regional cricketers; what is being passed on is condemnation. He said that over the past few weeks, the public had only heard commentators and former players, who are part of the media and elsewhere, condemning the current players. He reflected on the period when the great Sir Garfield Sobers was selected onto the West Indies team. There was a perfect transfer of knowledge, he opined, from one generation to the other. "For this reason, under Sir Garry, we became world champions for the first time, tribute again to the 3Ws, mastering, mentoring, empowering and passing on... The 3Ws took us there, Sir Garry carried us over, that is the history we have to pay attention to," he urged, adding that they were "mentors of a generation". “What I can tell you is that he (Sobers) walked into a space that was crafted by the 3Ws. He was brought into this as a youngster, he was inducted into the space, he was groomed, he was prepared and he was empowered," Beckles said (Nationnews.com). Rev. Wes Hall, who also weighed in on the ‘cricket chatter’, believes that there was too much emphasis by contemporary coaches on physical training and not enough attention is given to the mental development of the players. "The fact is that it is easier to train the body than it is to train the mind. Now I'm not prosecutorial, but it boggles my mind that this continues to plague us. "If you have all the knowledge in the world and all of the skill and you don't have the desire, then you are going to fail because desire is the starting point of all achievement. So, if you have a weak desire then you will have a weak result." The views shared by these two prominent West Indian gentlemen will no doubt resonate with the sentiments harbored my many in the region. The question is whether those who are in a position to orchestrate and implement the necessary changes are listening and will be roused into action. One thing is obvious though: West Indies cricket can not be allowed to continue its “Kamikaze nose-dive” into oblivion. (Quotations obtained from nationnews.com)