A case for captain Hinds

Who we go put? Well, here's my choice, Wavell Wayne Hinds. In just over a month from now the West Indies cricketers, barring any unforeseen disagreements relating to salaries, sponsorships or sunglasses and jewelry allowances, will be assembling for a training camp in Barbados ahead of the tour of New Zealand. Assuming they really have the interest of the regional team at heart, the Ken Gordon-led West Indies board must be thinking of a leadership change and should have already discussed the options informally. Yes, we are coming up to Christmas, but the spirit and the spirits of the season should not dull the senses to appreciating that dragging their feet on the captaincy issue will only further stymie any serious effort at re-establishing a culture of discipline, commitment and real teamwork in the senior West Indies squad.

For those who only see things on the basis of race and perceived slighting or disrespecting of their own, there is no point trying to explain that advocating the replacement of Shivnarine Chanderpaul as captain by Hinds is purely a cricketing decision. So let's move on.

At 29, Hinds has already showed in his leadership of the Jamaican team that he has some appreciation of what it means to be in charge of players who are friends and contemporaries at the higher level. As I understand it, he made it clear to Chris Gayle that his status as the established opening batsman in the West Indies side (imagine that, with his technique!) did not exempt him from the Jamaicans' "no jewelry" policy during their highly successful 2005 regional first-class season. Telling a player to keep his prized diamond stud in the dressing room is not exactly a ringing endorsement of leadership, yet it does suggest that Hinds understands what a team ethic is all about, that very often individual desires and aspirations have to be sacrificed for the common good. Most importantly, he does not hesitate to lay down the law, which, at the end of the day, is what captaincy is all about.

The previous panel of selectors had obviously seen the captaincy potential in Hinds when, with Carl Hooper, then regular captain, returning to Australia for knee surgery, they recommended him as deputy to Ridley Jacobs for the brief series in Bangladesh three years ago. Whether under the helmet at short-leg or somewhere in the outfield, his body-language is always positive, always aggressive, loudly urging on his team-mates and quick to offer advice.

During last month's tour of Australia, he impressed observers with his confident manner when representing the West Indies at a pre-series function in Brisbane. It may appear irrelevant, especially for a team struggling so desperately on the field, but a captain should also be a bit of a statesman, as much at ease in a jacket and tie in front of the microphone as with the burgundy cap pulled on in the dressing room.

However, and this is a significant point, he has not been able to establish a regular place in the West Indies side more than five years after making his Test debut against Zimbabwe at the Queen's Park Oval. After 44 Tests, his average (33.54) is modest, although he started this year with a double-century against South Africa at Bourda and scored half-centuries at Kensington Oval and Sabina Park against Pakistan later in the season. Like his compatriot, Gayle, his technique is far from ideal, and the sight of Hinds lunging into an extravagant drive only to edge a catch to the slips has become a familiar one in recent years. So there is no point dancing around it. In an ideal world, Hinds would not be on the short-list for the captaincy.

But, in case we haven't noticed, these are far from ideal times in West Indies cricket despite a few encouraging performances Down Under. Chanderpaul is out of his depth as captain, going back to Brian Lara at 36 is not an option and Ramnaresh Sarwan's overall demeanour does not suggest that he can cope with such responsibility as yet. Taking the easy way out and making the job merely a reward for long service reeks of a trade union-type mentality that fails to recognise that leadership is not just about length of time in the job but the ability to motivate others. If the WICB directors or representatives can't understand the need to break the old mould, then crapaud really smoke we pipe.

The Australians have always taken pride in picking their best 11 players first and then choosing a captain from among them. Yet in Mark Taylor, they had a leader who was so desperately out of form during the 1996/97 season that he did not merit a place in the side. But the selectors stuck with him because he had the unwavering support of his team-mates and, very importantly, Australia kept on winning even if Taylor could hardly score a run.

For the West Indies, the reverse is true. The regional side will continue to struggle never mind who is at the helm, so the captain will always be under pressure. However Hinds, who is very much an advocate of players' rights as an executive member of the Players' Association, might just be the one to heal the rifts created in the past year while at the same time work with Bennett King, West Indies' coach, rather than simply take instructions from him.