Press call for changes at the top

The newspapers in the Caribbean treated the defeat of West Indies at Bridgetown rather like the death of an elderly aunt. Not unexpected, more with resignation than anger. But after a suitable - if brief - period of mourning, they have come out fighting.

The editorial in the Jamaica Observer kicked off with an attack on the board. "The approach to the management and structure of our cricket is amateurish and is in need of new professionalism. With all due respect to new manager Tony Howard, the current management of the West Indies team seems inadequate for the job.

"Coach Gus Logie, for example, has made it clear that he should not be held responsible for what happens on the field - the implication being that Captain Lara is the one running the show. If the coach cannot assert himself enough to do his job, he surely does not deserve that job."

Tony Becca in the Jamaica Gleaner agreed that change has to come from the top. "West Indies cricket has a lot of problems, including indiscipline and the lack of pride. They all lead to one thing, however - too many unprepared players, too many boys in a man's game. The only way to stop it is to start at the bottom and the West Indies board has to come up with a plan to deal with the structure of West Indies cricket."

That theme is echoed in a number of publications, most vehemently in another column in the Observer which calls for resignations. "We would recommend the principle [of resigning] to the other top officers of the WICB and the captain of the team, Brian Lara."

It continues: "For frankly, in the historic, social and political environment of the Caribbean no West Indian, certainly no Caribbean nationalist, can easily swallow the drubbing being administered by the Englishmen. Cricket in this context, from a West Indian point of view, is a metaphor for geo-politics. The results of the matches are too much in keeping with the order of things between developed and developing states.

"So try as we may, rationalise as we will, in the recesses of West Indian minds, particularly those of the early and middle generations, this is no mere sporting contest. As we have argued before in these columns, cricket is life and the rest is detail."