by Alison Mitchell
You hear him before you see him; the base notes in his deep lilting Caribbean accent turn heads as he weaves his way through the BBC desks on route to the radio studio on the 3rd floor of New Broadcasting House.
Then he comes into view around the corner dressed casually in jeans, white polo shirt and – wonderfully – a dark grey grandad cap.
Normally Sir Vivian Richards isn’t hurried, only this morning his step has quickened as he goes from one broadcasting commitment to another.
He is in the UK to promote Antiguan tourism but he has called in to the BBC to have a chat with me for this weekend’s World Service cricket programme, Stumped.
The subject soon turns to the state of West Indies cricket. They have slumped to eighth in the Test rankings, head coach Phil Simmons has only just been re-instated after suspension for voicing his opinion about selection in public, and they are languishing a sorry ninth in ODIs, having failed to qualify for the 2017 Champions Trophy.
When the tournament takes place in England in two years’ time, the West Indies will be missing from a global event for the first time since their glorious World Cup win in 1975.
The backdrop to this slump has been a string of conflicts between players, board, and players’ union, which reached a nadir when the team pulled out of their tour of India last year.
“Some folks are disenchanted with the fact that West Indies cricket is not doing well at present,” Richards sighs. “They would really like to see the present team return to the heyday. I’ll always keep hope alive.”
Some of that hope may be pinned on the recent recommendations of a CARICOM (Caribbean Community governments) Cricket Review panel.
The panel was put together by the Prime Ministerial Committee on the Governance of West Indies Cricket and it demanded a full review of the governance and administrative structure of the game which – bar a Champions Trophy win in 2004 and victory in the World T20 in 2012 – has been two decades in decline.
The CARICOM panel has deemed the WICB (West Indies Cricket Board) to be unfit for purpose in the modern day and recommended last week that it be dissolved with immediate effect and a nine-man interim board be appointed in its place.
Resignations seem unlikely, though. Richards says those who sit on the board have never been prepared to take responsibility.
“I’m not going to point the finger at certain individuals,” he says. “But individuals are too dog-headed, too stubborn in order for them to take such decisions. Any individual who has presided over West Indies cricket and seen the present state that we’re in, rather than be pushed, you’d jump. We haven’t had those characters in the region.”
The legendary Garry Sobers became emotional recently when talking about the decline of West Indies cricket during a speech in Sri Lanka.
Richards does not reach the same outward level of emotion when we talk, but there is a passion and conviction in his words as he tries to articulate how the great team of the 80s that he played in navigated its way through its own turbulent waters.
“We had numerous problems,” he admits. “But we had strong characters. And when you have a team that’s winning it’s pretty hard to have administrators who’re going to question what you’re doing.
“I guess now you have a team that’s not doing well and problems surface more when you’re not winning.
“So we had those strong characters, people like Clive Lloyd as captain, Gordon Greenidge, Des Haynes and Malcolm Marshall. And we didn’t have all the personnel that they have today. All those individuals came at a particular time and they had the same sort of passion for representation. All the other stuff, earning whatever they earned, came after.
“The West Indies were pretty much a legendary team long before people like Clive Lloyd and myself came along.
“You had that history of individuals who, in my opinion, had passed on the baton. To me, it’s like a huge relay race, where you pass the baton, and you made sure when the baton was in your hand you didn’t drop it.
“They’ve got to find that belief, understand where they come from, have the passion for representation. Ignore the money at this stage; your country, in my opinion, is so important. And you don’t have to find a team of 11; you just need one or two guys who are strong enough to pull some of the weaker ones along.”
So despite poor results in Sri Lanka, is new Test captain Jason Holder a man who can not only lead, but inspire?
“When you have a guy who’s as young as Jason – and he speaks well, he’s knowledgeable about the game, he does have an idea of what he wants to accomplish – guys in the team must buy into that,” he says.
“If you have the respect of the dressing room, individuals are going to follow you in a huge way. I think he certainly has the package to accomplish that.”
The CARICOM report highlights the impact that a winning West Indies team has on the psyche and togetherness of the region. Richards agrees.
“It wasn’t the most high profile of tournaments (the World T20 in 2012) but winning was a boost. We need to find that rejuvenated spirit, where what happens on the field transforms off it in terms of how the people of the region feel.”
Women’s cricket is also highlighted in the report as being ignored by officials of the WICB, with no structures put in place for the development of the game.
The West Indies women are fifth in the world but there are fears over where the next generation will come from.
The report is due to be discussed at the WICB’s quarterly meeting on December 12. CARICOM will want it addressed much sooner than that.
Hear more on Stumped every week on the BBC World Service. Download the podcast at www.bbcworldservice.com/stumped
