The 85-year-old Gibbs, undisputedly one of the region’s finest ever craftsmen in the disciple of spin bowling, was critical of the performance of the current crop of regional spinners on a whole. His issue with Cornwall stemmed from what he described as the spinner’s short run-up and ‘lack of rhythm’.
Cornwall, who has insisted he only just heard of the remarks has insisted he is not fazed by the criticism as it was impossible to make everyone happy.
“I am not really on social media that much to see some of those things [comments] and if one or two people don’t say something to me I may not see it but I just don’t really dig too deep into it,” Cornwall told the Good Morning Jojo Radio Show.
“I really can’t stress on that, everybody has their own opinion and if you dwell on every opinion you will find yourself get mixed up in all sorts of things so you just have to control what you can control and when the opportunity arises to go and perform you just make sure you stick to what you know and perform,” he said.
The burly spinner, who made his debut for the West Indies against India last year, was recently named as part of a CWI 29-member preparatory squad for a possible tour of England.
The legendary spinner, who turned 85-year-old last year, had a good laugh when asked to assess what measures could be taken to get the 23-year-old to consistently produce the type of performances his immense ability often seems to suggest he is capable of.
“I want a belt. I want a belt in my hand when I see him,” Lance quipped during an interview on the Mason and Guest radio show.
The former U-19 World Cup-winning captain has been both a source of both delight and frustration for West Indies fans in recent years. While he has often been revered for his effortless and beautiful stroke play, the player has also been guilty of a certain amount of recklessness, which often gifts his wicket to opponents. Hetmyer was dropped for a few games in February after failing a fitness test.
“You don’t just throw away your hand like that,” Gibbs added.
The spin bowling legend, however, believes that the attitude of some of the modern players is influenced by how much they participate in the shorter formats of the game, which have become the most lucrative.
“We play limited-overs cricket at a fair pace, you have 20 overs you have 50 overs. The 20 overs is a slug, our young players are not putting their heads down to bat for a period of time. We probably need more 50 overs. A youngster like Hetmyer, for example, goes out and always wants to hit the ball for sixes, you don’t bat that way.”
As means of a solution, Gibbs suggested the creation of a formal medium where past generations could be given the chance to meet and mentor the current crop.
While speaking on Mason and Guest in Barbados on Tuesday, Gibbs expressed his disappointment at the spin bowlers currently playing in the Caribbean and was particularly critical of the much-heralded Rahkeem Cornwall.
Apparently, the 85-year-old former West Indies off-break bowler knows a bit about spin bowling. Between 1958 and 1976, Gibbs played 79 Tests for the West Indies taking 309 wickets at an average of 29.09 and enjoyed an economy rate of under two runs an over.
He was the first spinner in Test history to take 300 wickets and the second bowler behind England’s Fred Truman to do so.
His best performances came in the 1961/62 home series against India.
Over the course of five Tests, he picked up 24 wickets at just 20.41 apiece. Additionally, in one of the game's greatest spells of bowling at Bridgetown, he single-handedly reduced India from 149 for 2 to 187 all out. In 15.3 overs, Gibbs took eight wickets for just six runs to finish with figures of 8 for 38, his best Test-match haul.
Asked if he has seen any off-break bowlers in recent times who have caught his eye, Gibbs responded with an emphatic, “No!”
“They’re not spinning the ball,” he said.
Asked his thoughts on Cornwall, who has taken 13 wickets in the two Tests and 303 First-ClassWi wickets in 62 matches, Gibbs was critical of the player’s technique. “How can you take two steps and bowl? Where is your rhythm, where is that rhythm?” he asked.
“As a spin bowler you have got to use the crease, you have the return crease and you have the stumps, you have to bowl between those two. I never then had to go around the wicket to bowl, a lot because by using the crease I could get close to the stumps on the offside and still bowl and make it go on straighter instead of going around the wicket.”
Gibbs, who stood at over six feet in height, also revealed the secret of his success while playing cricket back in his heyday even while playing in a team characterized by its fast-bowling talent.
“I started as a leg spinner and I couldn’t bowl a googly,” he revealed. “I realized that with my height and with my high arm-action I am going to get bounce off any wicket in the world and if you’re getting bounce it is difficult to really hit you in the meat of the bat. It hits more higher up, and therefore you get catches all around.”
After he retired, Gibbs returned to manage the West Indies team in 1991 during their tour of England.
