‘If we start winning, things might change in West Indies cricket’

Gus Logie was part of Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards’s legendary West Indies teams. The Trinidadian was the first player to receive man-of-the-match award in an ODI. Much before Jonty Rhodes made fielding attractive, he had already carved a niche for himself in the department. And, unlike point specialist Rhodes, he could pull off blinders anywhere in the field —at point, short leg or deep midwicket. HT caught up with him at the Queen’s Park Oval. Excerpts… players were consummate professionals, they were focused, they were a bit more passionate, they wanted to do well, wanted to prove that we were great athletes. You know, there is a combination of things like administration of the sport. At this point, we seem to have a disconnect between the young players and the players of the past — what we believed in the past is no longer a virtue now. We talk about T20 cricket, franchise cricket which has taken away some of your best players. They want to play T20 cricket whether by choice or whether the administration has not really understood the change in the world order. But once you are on the team, you have to be focused, you have to want to do well for your team regardless who the presidents or are. That is where we need to pick up. Limited-overs cricket has helped in development of fielding techniques. Just like batting with all its innovations, fielding too has developed. It plays a lot more important part. Players and teams pay more emphasis on fielding. They are throwing the ball a lot further and a lot harder from different positions. They are sliding and diving. You’ll see amazing catches, players going beyond boundary and throwing the ball back. These are things players are practicing a lot more. There is a lot more support staff and coaches these days, so players get to work one on one. I think people gravitate to success. The West Indies team isn’t as successful as it used to be. It has dampened the spirits of a lot of fans in the Caribbean. If we start winning, things might change. But at the moment West Indies team is not doing well and that is hurting. You want to see Pollards, Gayles etc to be playing with these exciting young guys and that will make a better viewing for public and that’ll bring more support.

You want to see Pollards, Gayles (in pic) etc to be playing with these exciting young guys and that will make a better viewing for public