Patricide and Fratricide
Fri, Feb 20, '15
There will be life after this massacre of West Indies cricket. Because to-date, in the knife-wielding in Coronation Market, women and children it seems, are being spared, but not fathers and brothers.
Knives not already drawn are being sharpened at the anvil. And when Ireland upset the applecart, the repairman was asked to quicken things up. Losing to an upstart, will do that to an already anguished Caribbean. The washing tub can only hold so much. It needs to be emptied now, before Pakistan come calling. Because, if the West Indies were to be then, two-down – which they might well be – then, there will be blood in the streets. Every passing day, more salt seems to be pouring into a wide-open wound.
The West Indies tour to India, abandoned last October, is still a fresh slab of meat on the butcher’s block. "How shall it be apportioned?" the butchers are still asking. And this is one lump of meat that nobody is anxious to get an extra serving of.
All three partiers were at fault, was the fact that the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) commissioned group of fact-finders, found. Not satisfied, some want to see more heads than those of just Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, and to a lesser extent – of Darren Sammy’s, hanging from the bridge.
And as to why only these three heads are swinging, the jury is still out.
Michael Holding, the former West Indies fast bowler, now a persuasive and strong-opinioned commentator, has been saying, there’s more to it than just a lack of performance – a position his former West Indies captain, and chairman of the WICB selection committee Clive Lloyd is holding strong to. "We just felt like the time was right, to go in a new direction," has been the selector-chairman’s public position. And of late, neither is a former West Indies captain Brian Lara, buying it. "We shot ourselves in the foot," is Lara’s recent take.
But, is Lloyd’s public pronouncement as he insists, in cadence with his heart? Some, including the former fast bowler, are thinking not. And is there a tip-off? Because in the past, situations where Lloyd has expressed his, "disappointment," have been analogous to when one Gordon Greenidge used to say, he’s "batting injured."
Because bowlers the world over, knew what that meant. When Greenidge said he was "batting injured," and began to limp, he was at his most dangerous. Similarly, when Lloyd says he’s "disappointed," then may those who `disappointed’ him, watch out.
Might those who have caused Lloyd disappointed, now feeling his wrath? Those who think so, might well be onto something.
Flash-back to Lloyd’s last major `disappointment’ – the delay of the West Indies tour of South Africa back in November 1998. That was when, the seniors of the senior team led by Brian Lara, remained hold-up in London, for some several days. The squabble was then, as it was in India last October – over money. Lloyd – the then team manager, already in South Africa, had to fly back to London to help iron things out. While the then WICB president Pat Rousseau had to make either an unscheduled, or a premature trip, also to London, but from his native Jamaica. Lara the then captain, along with some of his senior cohorts, was initially axed. But then as part of the peace-offering, was reinstated.
In the Simon Lister autobiography, Lloyd made no bones about his, "disappointment," at that whole affair. And that in his view, the WICB had missed a chance to, "wipe the slate clean and start again."
As mentioned, the issue last October was the same – over money; but the action taken by the players was more draconian – abandonment; and after that, the same fighting-word `disappointment’ was used by Lloyd. The only difference between the two occurrences was that, for the more recent one, Lloyd as chairman of the selectors was in a position to, "wipe the slate," some say, not clean enough, and, "start again."
And so, even if Bravo and Pollard had the numbers of Bradman and Sobers combined, they might have been still destined, to watch the 2015 Cricket World Cup, from their gold-plated down-stuffed armchairs.
For Caribbean cricket fans, the glass is always half-empty. Some are always crying in their milk, that "their man," isn’t getting a chance. Now that the absence of Bravo and Pollard has opened-up openings, to give others a chance, some are still crying in their milk.
Couldn’t the absence of those two, be viewed this way? Next time around, Jason Holder will be a seasoned World Cup campaigner, and not some wet-behind-the-ears maiden-voyager? Folks, there’s no ideal time to start beginning again.
And what about this coming March 7th? What will that bring? Will it bring change? Or,will it bring more of the same?
If the Jamaica Cricket Association’s (JCA) about-face is a hint of what’s to come, then, the more things change, the more they look like they will be staying the same.
And might that be all that bad a thing?
Despite missteps, might Dave Cameron be in the right church? But just not in the right pew? Spreading the money around, might not be all a bad thing. Results for the last twenty (20) years, have to-date suggested, that it might even be, a good thing.
When horses are overfed, they tend to get lazy.
So Mr. Garner – he says with his connections – can mitigate, or even erase, the US$42 million debt. However, after that, then what?
Would he if elected, simply join the long list of those who only promised that "better must come?"
