And The Fans React...

I gave up a night on the town to ensure that I got a good night's rest on Saturday. I wanted to be fresh for the full day of cricket that was expected to be played on Day 4. That I will never do again, given the way that the match ended.

Routed for their lowest ever Test total against any team, the West Indies batsmen offered no resistance to the English bowlers, and approximately 30 minutes before the lunch interval, it was all over. Naturally this earned the wrath of fans, some of whom had awakened at 3:00 am to prepare food to take to the ground, for it was Sunday, and in Jamaica that meant there had to be a big lunch.

As people exited, I asked them for their thoughts on the performance of the West Indies team. As to be expected, the fans were singing the same tune. Some were ready to give a mouthful, while others just came straight to the point. Here are their thoughts:

"The West Indies Captain and the selectors should resign. We can't go any lower than this. In my 25 years, it's the worst I have seen. Everything not right in the West Indies camp where the selectors and the officials are concerned. Something's wrong. I can't pinpoint it but we need a new set of people up there - selectors and captain - and I feel if you get the right selectors and captain and we start to select the right team, things would be better". The recent expose of the 'Peeking Under the Hood' minutes of the WICB's cricket committee would have shown that this gentleman is indeed correct.

Johnny is a Jamaican who has been living in England since 1960. He sometimes hosts the West Indies team members when they come on tour, providing things like home cooked food when they play at Headingley. He said "I really need a shoulder to cry on. It's really really disastrous for us. If I could walk on water I would walk back to England but because I can't walk on water, I'm going on to Trinidad and I hope for the best". The team had better hope that Johnny's generosity will prevail when they tour the UK this summer.

Said an elderly gentleman, "It is poor, very poor. It is unlike the West Indies to play this way. Most unlike them. Very sad. In the next match, they need to assert themselves".

I bucked up a British supporter who lives in Cayman. "It was a shame that it was so short. We were looking for a longer game but seeing it's the lowest WI score ever it's a bit of a disappointment". A bit? That is an understatement, certainly for West Indian fans.

A lady who had come only for Sunday?s play said, "I wasn't expecting this. I was expecting something better". Her companion was adamant that he will never come back to Sabina Park any more. "It's my first time coming to a match at Sabina Park. I live in Ochi [Ocho Rios]. I won't be coming back". Lost revenue for the West Indies Cricket Board.

This gentleman supports drastic action. "It's poor. They should have fired every one of them at this moment. Not even a second day on the West Indies Cricket Board. Both Lara and every one of them come down, they are no damn good". Just for the record, he did ask that I excuse his language!

Said another in Jamaican dialect, "It's full time for the West Indies people to wake up and see what they are doing. We nuh have no cricket board, we nuh have nutten at all, get rid of everyone of them. The next set, new members".

The following comparison was amusing. "Well I think the West Indies team, they remind me of a hog's 'seed'. They are always at the back, and everybody can take a stone and hit them and do anything and make a record out of them". The next time you see a hog, look at its rear end and you will see what he was talking about.

The team's performance warrants some strong punishment according to this gentleman. "Them fi walk go home. Walk and get beaten along the way, and them mussen get nuh pay. You see dat bus wheh dem come inna, dem fi walk go back ah di hotel". Well at least the players would get some exercise if this were the case.

"Terrible man. Terrible performance. Terrible display. It's the worse I've seen it". That's the truth.

Another supporter said, "It's the lowest ever you know, so we come from 51 to 47, so where we going next? 30 and wha?"

This man said "I think it was a very poor performance overall. I think we should have come here with one intention of just getting the shine off the new ball. I think it was good bowling overall you know. I wouldn't say it was careless batting on a whole".

There were ladies in the crowd and the next three comments were from female patrons:

"It was very poor. This is the worst I've seen".

"Inconsistency as usual".

"Oh, it was terrible, but guess what? I'm glad to be a part of history because this took place 60 odd years ago, the lowest score level and now this take place at Sabina Park. I've never seen anything worse than this except for last year when Brian Lara came and made the same mistake in the ODI when he decided to bat last on this pitch".

Said a youngster, "I'm disappointed that it happen at the Jamaica ground, I would not feel the way I feel if it happened at another ground". Let's hope this kind of performance is never again seen at any other ground anywhere.

His friend chipped in with his 'two cents'. "I'm very much disappointed. I had expected to have seen a much better game. I think bad batting was the main factor, good bowling to a certain extent but bad batting was the major factor".

Over at the Red Stripe Mound, the music had been turned up, the drinks were flowing and the bodies were moving, but in the midst of it all, I spotted a regular patron leaving. He said, "I can't enjoy this" then he added, "They [fans] should be more like the Indian and Pakistanis and burn the team bus". Such was his pain.

Another man who had come down from Florida to watch five days of cricket said "It sucks big time". But then he mused that "we've gotten used to it now though so it's all good" in between some heavy dancehall rhythms.

A schoolboy cricketer was of the opinion that "it's the worst test match I've ever watched. The cricket is not improving. They've got inconsistent players. There was good bowling yes, but no devil was in the pitch. The West Indies are always asking for this type of wickets".

Then looking around the Mound and spotting Chris Gayle (9 runs) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (0), he continued, "you don't see some of them in the Mound, like they don't care?"

Is that it? They don't care? Do they think about the depression that some of us go into after witnessing a debacle such as this? It would be interesting to hear their views wouldn't it?

When I asked one gentleman about his thoughts, he replied succinctly, "Which performance darling?" Ouch.

Another said "dem should hang dem head in shame". But even with the abysmal performance, a quick look in the souvenir shop saw many patrons buying souvenirs.