John McEnroe recently said on NPR,
In reply to deanjones
What other sports are being played in the Caribbean? Dwayne Bravo, Pullhard, Russell. Are they not extremely athletic? Why is it that they only excel in 20/20 cricket and not the other two formats?
In reply to Devin
You think those three would make the West Indies team of the 80's? BTW, football and basketball are very popular in the Caribbean.
In reply to Devin
Americans taking to basketball or baseball over tennis is real..Caribbean people taking to basketball over cricket is a myth propagated to obfuscate the reality of eclipse of stone age domination in cricket..
In reply to Khaga
And Americans still produce world class players who are in the top 20. This guy is a nut case. Sock, isner etc. Are still capable of beating the big 5.
Ambrose said if it weren't for his mom, he would have played basketball over cricket. How many athletes like Ambrose have we lost like that to other sports.
In reply to gvenkat
I don't have an issue with McEnroe's assessment based on American situation. deanjones' extrapolation is foolish though, but not surprising at all..
In reply to deanjones
The bigger picture is the community does not support cricket, cricket is now played in the gyms.
The problem with the extrapolation is that you would then assume that Caribbean nations would be much better in international football and basketball. We know that's not the case. T&F perhaps, but it's not like the Caribbean has suddenly become world class overnight.
More likely is that Windies have punched above their weight for many years thanks to a great cricket 'culture', cricket as a unifying force, etc. Nowadays, the culture has fallen off, countries with more resources/population are performing better, Windies have stagnated on the men's side. The issues between players and Boards haven't helped.
In reply to Tryangle
In reply to Khaga
Cricket is a b-grade sport from a global perspective. Attractive to a small niche and 3rd world countries searching for an arena where they can compete at a decent level against 1st world countries where the sport is a distant 3rd or lower in terms of attracting talented sportsmen.
In reply to NewsJunkie
Well that would go back to the ICC and their own insular attitude. They kept 'highest level' cricket a members-only club, stifling any chance at growth. It's been glacial in growing the sport and providing access to the global market. Even now, they've reduced spots to its premier global tournament to a meager TEN, while rugby union, basketball, soccer are always finding ways to really increase the global fanbase. They're too worried about diluting of stats and other nonsense instead of an on-field product that attracts those who ordinarily see the sport as some colonial relic.
