Three years later, in England last summer, Jamie Cox, the Australian who captained a below-strength Somerset to victory by 242 runs over the West Indies, said he was appalled that international players could take such humiliation so lightly. Winston Benjamin, who was sent home from the tour of England in 1995, and Franklyn Rose and Chris Gayle who were not considered for the recent tour of Australia. Not a soul else. And yet three coaches and three captains got the flick in that time. The problem is that such a culture is now ingrained.
Young players come into the team and are easily corrupted.
It is a vicious circle. What is particularly galling is that Shaun Pollock, Herschelle Gibbs, Lance Klusener and several other South Africans make it a point to praise the coaching and guidance they had from Marshall and Desmond Haynes in their formative years. Somehow West Indians don't seem to similarly benefit from their many great players. For the West Indies team, a succession of coaches and managers have come and gone and Skerritt and coach Roger Harper, only just over a year in their posts, are the latest faced with the challenge of putting things right. They obviously need more time to turn things around and it would be folly for the WICB to now dismiss them, as is rumoured.