Time Gibson and Sammy went!

By Anita Delph
| Fri, May 25, 2012 - 12:01 AM

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I have been following the fortunes of the West Indies cricket team for many years, and even more so since the appointment of Ottis Gibson and Marlon Samuels, both non-performers; and I am not surprised to hear the comments of ill-treatment from Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle.

It is clear that there was an attempt to remove the senior players from the team.

After all, we now have a captain with a batting average of 19 runs in Tests, 22 in ODIs and 11 in T20. His bowling statistics are just as dismal with one wicket every 31 runs.

Sammy would have great difficulty being selected for any Test/ODI team in the world apart from Zimbabwe and the West Indies, far less be selected as captain of a national or regional team.

Coach Ottis Gibson’s cricketing career was just as unexciting with a batting average of 23 runs in Tests and an average of one wicket for every 92 runs. The past performances of the coach and the captain prevent them from leading by example.

What advice could Gibson or Sammy possibly give to Sarwan, Chanderpaul or Gayle to help them strengthen their game?

We have now reached a point in West Indies cricket where we focus on the enthusiasm of the cricketers on the field, rather than on performance. Test cricket is serious business and we simply cannot have inexperienced cricketers learning on the job.

It is time Ottis Gibson and Darren Sammy be men and do the honourable thing by falling on their swords. It is time for them to step down after this series in England.

It is time the WICB give Chanderpaul some support by bringing the experienced players back into West Indies team.

Oh, as far as the captain, appoint Dwayne Bravo when he returns from the IPL.