Women’s cricket – a reflection of the state of affairs

It was inevitable that St Vincent and the Grenadines would continue its poor showing in the regional women’s cricket tournament in Grenada which ended recently.{{more}}

From being a previous winner — one of the top teams a few years back, this country has been relegated to minnow’s status.

In both the 50-over and T-20 competitions, St Vincent and the Grenadines failed to advance to the semi-finals, and on each occasion, had to play for consolation positions.

In fact, St Vincent and the Grenadines placed fifth in the 50-over competition and seventh of eight teams in the 20-over a side encounters.

Such is the continuous relegation of St Vincent and the Grenadines women’s cricket, that the West Indies Cricket Board may have all reason to initiate a Windwards outfit, as none of the four can now compete with Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago nor Guyana.

But what has gone wrong with women’s cricket did not occur in Grenada over the past two weeks, but is a true reflection of the current state of affairs of the sport here.

Even before the team left these shores, there were fallouts.

The handling of the omission of Samantha Lynch from the team was another faux pas in a long list of wrangling, which has affected the smooth flow of play.

Then, there was the request of key player and former captain of the team Cordel Jack to be sent back from Grenada.

The latter must be cause for concern, as one would have felt that every effort would have been made to quell whatever were the problems, rather than going the way of public exposure of disunity within the team.

But, deeper than what may be exposed, women’s cricket and the national senior team are split into pieces, similar to a jigsaw puzzle, which seemingly cannot be constructed to get the true picture.

Evidently, there is a disconnect and discord between management and the players on one hand, and among players on the other hand.

Notwithstanding the issues of persons’ sexuality, as well as their choices and means of socialization.

This, while not a new phenomenon, has begun to gnaw away at the performance of the team.

Over the years, several coaches have been tried with the said results, as persons’ callallo do not scratch, irrespective of the composition of the team or the venue of the annual tournament.

And, all things are not as bright and beautiful as they are made out to be, as there are some serious internal tissues which are ruptured, and are haemorrhaging, thus causing the sport a premature death.

Therefore, the core of the sport’s predicament rests with the administrators, who are aware of the debilitating factors, but are too weak to take and make corrective surgery.

The hierarchy of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association must first up divorce personal conditions from professionalism, as the administration is hinged on the latter and not the former.

As this column continually laments, things are just left to chance in terms of players’ development, with the hope that with some stroke of luck, they will come through.

Some years ago, whilst we persisted with some of the aging players, Barbados for instance, blooded their 12 and 13- year-olds. Today, these same players — the Knight twins and Shaquana Quintyne are the products of such foresight and are almost certain picks on the West Indies team.

At present, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ lone selectee on the regional team — Juliana Nero, is barely holding on to her spot, and there is no one in sight to keep this country’s name among the members of the team.

The same can be said for our senior males, as no one other than left arm fast bowler Delorn Johnson seems to be on the horizon for a West Indies selection, not even for the West Indies A team.

Similarly, St Vincent and the Grenadines ended up last in the Windwards Under-15 male tournamen,t held here in April, losing all six matches.

The happenings as well as the outcomes are there staring those who want to see in their faces, but with little shameful expression visible.

What, though, is a common factor is that only the holders of the various offices are satisfied with their tenure of unproductivity.

And, until changes are instituted, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Cricket will forever traverse that defined slippery slope.