SUNDAY 6TH JULY, 2014 – UWI TODAY
13
OUR LEADERSHIP
By the time he was thirty,
his place in West Indies
cricket lore was firmly
established and he was
already a legend, but that
is not what has established
his credentials as a leader
and a genuine icon of
Caribbean sport. I could
find nothing in his early life
which gave an earnest view
of this aspect of his career.
Indeed he was a bit of a
rebel and nonconformist
as he himself confessed. I
do not believe that his differences with the Cricket Board
represent leadership. To me they are a manifestation of
his appreciation of what was just and fair and willingness
to buck the established order. This was Rosa Parks rather
than Martin Luther King. Of course there are always the
savants who will claim that those were characteristics which
stamped him for leadership.
The popular perception is that his claim to have a genius
for leadership is based principally on his changing the face
of West Indian cricket, beginning with the famous tour of
Australia in 1960-1961. But there is evidence of players
coming to him for guidance even before he was captain
and therefore the de facto leader. His adult personality was
such that men turned to him almost naturally for counsel
and comfort.There were the qualities of technical judgment
and expertise and the positive attitude that made him the
formidable captain he was on and off the field. But there is
more and one gets a flavour of some of it by speaking with
some of his players.
Wes Hall and Cammie Smith describe some of these
qualities. In his inimitable style, Wes describes Worrell
as a man-manager—a style rooted in respect for oneself
and for the dignity and personhood of the other. He never
denigrated the person—he would identify the fault and
address it in personal interaction—never in public. He spent
time knowing his men. As Cammie would say, he spent
as much time speaking about life and living in personal
interaction as he spent in discussing cricket. Such was the
rapport and respect that there was ready compliance with his
instructions on and off the field, because one did not wish
to disappoint the skipper. He removed much of the almost
natural island jealousies born of ignorance by having players
fromdifferent islands room together. Apparently he was not
a great fan of large teammeetings. He clearly did not know
only cricket and therefore genuinely knew cricket.
But perhaps the characteristic which for me identifies
and epitomizes the essence ofWorrell’s claim to iconic status
as a leader is demonstration of the classical Pygmalion
effect. If I expect you to do well and let you know it, then
that brings out some special reserve of resolve and talent.
Wes tells a story that exemplifies this. It was the occasion of
the Fourth Test in July 1963 in England and the series was
tied one apiece. Sobers had an abscess on one of his fingers
which was lanced on the day before play was to start so he
came to the ground in street clothes, still smarting from the
wound and not expecting to play. Worrell called him aside
and spoke to him explaining how much he and the team
depended on him and how much it would mean to him if
he played. Sobers dressed and sore finger and all made 102,
put on 143 with Kanhai for the 4th wicket, made 52 in the
second innings and in England’s second innings bowled 32
overs getting three wickets for 90 runs.
In the heyday of his captaincy Frank was of course
older than the majority of his players and the paternal or
avuncular role would have contributed. But clearly this was
not the only factor and the bond of a West Indian team was
also not the critical factor, because he had demonstrated
his leadership skills in his captaincy of the Commonwealth
teams to India.
I have speculated on the arguments in the campaign to
have himmade captain of theWest Indies team to Australia
in 1960-1961. My reading suggests that this campaign was
built on at least four premises. First he was a cricketer’s
cricketer and had demonstrated his talents in every place
where cricket was played and the cognoscenti were at one
over his skill and knowledge of the game. The next would
have been that of it being a social imperative. The social
ferment, the bubbling nationalism, the kicking over the
traces of the old colonial order, were undoubtedly factors
in the argument. There was the underlying factor of race
which cannot be divorced entirely from the former. James
points out that he originally rejected Learie Constantine’s
argument that it was time for a black man to captain the
West Indies. In his letter to the Queen’s Park Club in early
1960, he wrote;
“I do not bring prejudice to any of the charges. In the
campaign I am carrying on against Alexander instead of
Worrell as captain, I shall exhaust every argument before I
touch the racial aspect of it.”
James averred that he wished the best man to be captain
but in not so subtle language he infers that in this case the
best man was black. The fourth factor was that he had the
leadership capacity that made him the logical choice at that
particular time.These arguments constituted a powerful and
heady brew that so intoxicated the West Indian public and
created a vis a tergo so strong that the collected clamour for
cricketing justice could not be denied.
Legend
and
Leader
“
There has been an increasing cacophony about the lack or failure of leadership in the Caribbean generally, although it is bemoaned most in the political sphere.
There is a feeling abroad that we as a people have escaped from Egypt, the waters have parted for us, but somehow the Promised Land is a mirage and there are
no leaders, no Joshuas to guide us,”
observed Chancellor of The UWI, Sir George Alleyne, as he addressed the gathering at the annual Sir Frank Worrell Memorial
Lecture on May 27. Sir George, a cricket enthusiast himself, made it clear he was no player, but he played a very solid innings with his presentation,
“Frank Worrell:
of Legends and Leaders.”
His delivery, peppered with anecdote, was a statesman’s analysis of the qualities of leadership needed right now in the Caribbean. Here is an
excerpt from his lecture, which can be read in its entirety on our website at
