With former stars, West Indies are cricket’s equivalent of FC Hollywood
KOLKATA: There are football teams and there is FC Hollywood. Bayern Munich are only sparingly referred as that now but there was a time in the mid-90s and again when Louis van Gaal was coach that the club created bigger news off the field to earn that moniker.
If there is one team in cricket that can be the then Bayern’s equivalent, it is West Indies. Internal strife and being in the rebuilding mode seem a way of life with them. That’s when we are not talking about the $42 million (approx ` 283 crore) the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had demanded for West Indies abandoning a tour midway in 2014. Steps are being taken though to settle the issue.
But that’s not the only similarity with one of the great foot- ball clubs. Bayern have a way of incorporating former legends in the support staff.
Franz Beckenbauer continues as “honorary president” having been a player, skipper, coach and president. Karl Heinz Rumenigge is the club’s CEO, and before he was incarcerated in a tax fraud case, Uli Hoeness was its heartbeat, one who kept Bayern in the black for over three decades. For long, Gerd Mueller — a member of the 1974 World Cup-winning squad — coached the Bayern youth teams and Paul Breitner continues as ambassador at the Bavarian giants.
With former skipper and World Cup winner Clive Lloyd here as chairman of the selection committee, which also has pace ace Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose as bowling consultant and Phil Simmons as coach, West Indies too have a support staff of legends. And there’s Joel Garner, in the islands’ cricket board.
“We dominated the world for 17 good years. We have had great players, the Marshals, the Garners, the Ambroses. This era is creating its own legacy. Right now, we are doing that in T20 cricket,” said West Indies skipper Darren Sammy here.
Asked about the presence of Ambrose, batting all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite, brought for a whopping ` 4.2 crore by Delhi Daredevils for this IPL, said: “Curtly Ambrose has been an inspiration. To us he is a legend. It’s just up to us to pick his brains.”