Dear Editor,

There’s a story – told mostly by Guyanese – making the rounds about the contribution of an ex-Windies captain to the art of fieldplacing. On taking the field he advised, “I’m taking first slip. The rest of you scatter.”

End of fieldplacing. I had thought this a good apocryphal yarn until now. Thanks to the technology of the stump mike, Jamaicans now know of the contribution of the current captain Chris Gayle who has assumed the mantle of outstanding Jamaicans George Headley, Franz Alexander and Courtney Walsh.

Bowling to Marcus North in the Brisbane Test, the whole world heard him tell his close-catching fieldsmen, “Let him free, let him free”, and with hands flailing, “Go wherever you want.” This is what West Indies cricket captaincy has come to. What is equally sad is that you can be sure that the only action to be taken by anyone is that the selectors will unanimously recommend him as captain for the next series and the WICB directors, under its archaic protocols, will feel duty-bound to accept. Can anyone even imagine this happening in the camps of track and field coaches Stephen Francis or Glen Mills? Therein lies the difference between the success of our athletes and the continuing failure of our cricketers.

Errol Townshend

ewat@rogers.com