My letter wondering whether there was a ten-year plan to end West Indies cricket was not yet published when Mark Nicholas published on the ESPNcricinfo website an article headlined, “Is it time for the West Indies nations to go it alone”
Mr Nicholas is an English word magician who apparently lives in Australia. He and the now-deceased Tony Greig, a South African who also lived in Australia, were basically the two foreigners given the licence to broadcast and lionise Australian cricket. Mr Nicholas performed the “obituary” with the sadness expected on such an occasion and even suggested the death could have been avoided.
My comments at the time challenged the implication of Mr Nicholas's piece that the West Indies nations could benefit from such dissolution. It is my belief foreign journalists find it much easier to recommend this policy of having several West Indian “countries” represented in international cricket because they get so much support from West Indians.
It was the recent Hobart Test match in particular that was deemed to be the final straw. The great Australian team that was bowled out in England for 61 this year, and defeated by an innings in Abu Dhabi last year, could stand it no more. In England, the memories of the whitewash in Australia one year ago was a faint memory, and the fact that England's last two series in the West Indies ended in a loss and a draw respectively was not relevant.
What is even more to the point is no one noted Shannon Gabriel, who took the first Australian wicket and bowled best among the West Indian fast men, was injured early in that Hobart Test, where the weather conditions often required the use of gloves, and that hands be kept constantly in pockets.
It might have been the worst weather conditions ever seen in a Test match at Hobart, an otherwise lovely city to which I had the pleasure of visiting when I travelled to see Brian Lara break Allan Border's record in 2005.
When West Indians hasten to agree with Englishmen and Australians about cricket they must remember a few things: these people have long memories. The West Indies, with a handful of people and even fewer resources, were a power in cricket for the entire second half of the 20th century, and dominant from about 1978 to about 1993 in which latter year they defeated Australia at home, a feat not repeated until recently when South Africa beat the Aussies.
In the early years of the West Indian demonstration of power, they received, as outlined by Bob Woolmer in his magnum opus Cricket, dodgy LBW decisions from home umpires, and as we all know the English and Australians altered LBW and fast bowling rules to neutralise both fast and slow bowlers from the West Indies.
Even on the tour of 2005 the umpiring decisions seemed to favour Australia so frequently that the West Indies coach, an Australian, talked about the possibility of a formal protest. An Australian law professor told me at the Adelaide Test he felt deprived of a contest by poor umpiring that negatively impacted the performance of the West Indies team. I brought back from Australia reports in their newspapers about the poor umpiring, which I sent to the West Indies Cricket Board without even acknowledgement of receipt.
The simple fact is Australia and England have always resented the ability of West Indian cricketers to boss them and have decided to react in a manner destructive to West Indies cricket at their first opportunity.
West Indian fans and journalists have reacted to the long string of defeats by their team in a manner that gives much satisfaction to the English and Australians. How on earth, I ask, can the region benefit from the dissolution of the West Indies Test team, and how can those small countries (Trinidad and Tobago included) gain an advantage from going it alone The notion is absurd. Frankly, it is not even in the interest of the game.
West Indians should examine the behaviour of English and Australian fans during the period that the West Indies was humiliating their teams. The reaction was always the same: “Let's stand behind our boys, and try to improve our game to be as good as theirs.”
The West Indies must not allow the defeats to render them irrational. Try to improve your team and fight for better scheduling and better distribution of the income from international cricket.
Mr Nicholas is an English word magician who apparently lives in Australia. He and the now-deceased Tony Greig, a South African who also lived in Australia, were basically the two foreigners given the licence to broadcast and lionise Australian cricket. Mr Nicholas performed the “obituary” with the sadness expected on such an occasion and even suggested the death could have been avoided.
My comments at the time challenged the implication of Mr Nicholas's piece that the West Indies nations could benefit from such dissolution. It is my belief foreign journalists find it much easier to recommend this policy of having several West Indian “countries” represented in international cricket because they get so much support from West Indians.
It was the recent Hobart Test match in particular that was deemed to be the final straw. The great Australian team that was bowled out in England for 61 this year, and defeated by an innings in Abu Dhabi last year, could stand it no more. In England, the memories of the whitewash in Australia one year ago was a faint memory, and the fact that England's last two series in the West Indies ended in a loss and a draw respectively was not relevant.
What is even more to the point is no one noted Shannon Gabriel, who took the first Australian wicket and bowled best among the West Indian fast men, was injured early in that Hobart Test, where the weather conditions often required the use of gloves, and that hands be kept constantly in pockets.
It might have been the worst weather conditions ever seen in a Test match at Hobart, an otherwise lovely city to which I had the pleasure of visiting when I travelled to see Brian Lara break Allan Border's record in 2005.
When West Indians hasten to agree with Englishmen and Australians about cricket they must remember a few things: these people have long memories. The West Indies, with a handful of people and even fewer resources, were a power in cricket for the entire second half of the 20th century, and dominant from about 1978 to about 1993 in which latter year they defeated Australia at home, a feat not repeated until recently when South Africa beat the Aussies.
In the early years of the West Indian demonstration of power, they received, as outlined by Bob Woolmer in his magnum opus Cricket, dodgy LBW decisions from home umpires, and as we all know the English and Australians altered LBW and fast bowling rules to neutralise both fast and slow bowlers from the West Indies.
Even on the tour of 2005 the umpiring decisions seemed to favour Australia so frequently that the West Indies coach, an Australian, talked about the possibility of a formal protest. An Australian law professor told me at the Adelaide Test he felt deprived of a contest by poor umpiring that negatively impacted the performance of the West Indies team. I brought back from Australia reports in their newspapers about the poor umpiring, which I sent to the West Indies Cricket Board without even acknowledgement of receipt.
The simple fact is Australia and England have always resented the ability of West Indian cricketers to boss them and have decided to react in a manner destructive to West Indies cricket at their first opportunity.
West Indian fans and journalists have reacted to the long string of defeats by their team in a manner that gives much satisfaction to the English and Australians. How on earth, I ask, can the region benefit from the dissolution of the West Indies Test team, and how can those small countries (Trinidad and Tobago included) gain an advantage from going it alone The notion is absurd. Frankly, it is not even in the interest of the game.
West Indians should examine the behaviour of English and Australian fans during the period that the West Indies was humiliating their teams. The reaction was always the same: “Let's stand behind our boys, and try to improve our game to be as good as theirs.”
The West Indies must not allow the defeats to render them irrational. Try to improve your team and fight for better scheduling and better distribution of the income from international cricket.
NO LIES TOLD
