The WICB could learn from Jamaican athletics in so many ways.
This is not a novel assertion to make: Grenada PM Keith Mitchell said it not so long ago. But I've just read something in the Sunday Times magazine that made me think along those lines again. I can't post a link, because the Times is a part of the evil Murdoch empire, which you have to pay to view online.
The interviewer is asking Usain Bolt about the history of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport of athletics, and he's easily handling the questions that come his way. Eventually, this paragraph comes up in the story:
'His handlers are getting edgy. They want me to quit this line of questioning. My time is limited, but this is important, I insist. An awkward pause ensues. The sponsors are looking at the manager; the manager is looking at me: I am looking at the world's fastest man. Bolt, predictably, doesn't have a problem with discussing the issue. "It's okay," he says. We move on to the subject of London 2012.'
Clearly, the managers and the sponsor's reps were doing their jobs. They were ensuring that no story gets side-tracked into some negative story that could spiral out of control. That is what any media officer worth his salt should be doing.
So, what was the manager and the media officer doing when Chris Gayle gave that interview to the Guardian the last time the West Indies toured England? Any manager or media manager worth his salt would've squashed that I-don't-care-about-Test-cricket comment in the bud, but they don't seem to have been present at the interview.
The question is, has the WICB learnt from that experience? Are they as professional as the teams surrounding top Jamaican athletes? I don't think so....
