Perhaps there is no outfit better than the West Indies cricket team at optimistic, heartfelt commentary on failure. Maybe there is no greater exponent at identifying all the positives that can emanate from finishing second best in competitive sport than the regional side. And at the centre of this rhetoric of losing nestles Cricket West Indies whose decision-making continues to confound.For many, coach of the regional team Phil Simmons has been found wanting time and time again. In competitive professional sport, accountability of players and coaches is at a premium. Success is always the measure. And if the personalities associated with failure are allowed to perpetuate that failure, then those at the centre of the decision-making process need to demit their responsibility.Recently, the West Indies – one is tempted to say, predictably – lost a Twenty20 series to relative minnows Ireland. Cricket purists might turn up their noses at this 20-overs slam, bam, thank you ma’am version of the game. But since the West Indies have been failing at all versions, the importance of defeat in the shortest format is magnified. Asked by the media this week if he was concerned about his job as coach, Simmons had this to say: “If I start worrying about my job then I have problems. I am worrying about the success of the team, I am worrying about how we get players to play their roles and in playing their roles get the team to be successful and that’s all I’m concerned about.”
