20 years of Red Force pain erased 

After twenty long years wandering in the regional four-day wilderness, the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force team has finally brought home the bacon. It is a moment of pure vindication for skipper Joshua Da Silva, his squad, and a backroom staff expertly marshalled by coach Rayad Emrit, whose seamless transition from decorated player to championship-winning tactician has been nothing short of brilliant.I wonder if King Sammy (we will get to him later) is looking for backroom staff. It is also a dream come true for “The General” in the local cricket administration, finally capturing the elusive regional crown after a mere seventeen years in office.Inevitably, the WhatsApp critics and fans from across the region have already entered the chat, attempting to downplay the Red Force’s achievements. A cynical message flashed across my screen this week, asking, “What is there to celebrate in a watered-down tournament designed merely to pretend territorial teams were exposed to four-day cricket?” While that may be true, it is unfair to the captain, coach, and players, as a team can only play the schedule put in front of them and dismantle the opponents in the opposite dugout.

Seales was utterly spectacular, cementing his status as one of the most lethal fast bowlers on the planet right now. Part of me still wishes he’d gone to England, as nothing accelerates a young quickie’s development quite like forcing them to formulate a tactical plan to dismiss world-class batsmen on flat August wickets in the English countryside.Seales’ performance in the final was pure theatre. Walking out to bat at a disastrous 162 for 9, when even reaching 200 felt like a mountain too steep, Seales hammered an unbeaten 70 to propel the team to 260. With the ball, he then picked up four wickets in Guyana’s first innings and three in the second, which was all the team could have asked for.Evin Lewis’s masterful 122 in the second innings understandably walked away with the Man of the Match award, but if I were the adjudicator, I’d have looked no further than Jayden Seales.

So, where do we go from here? The ball is now firmly in the court of King Sammy. One wonders what insights His Majesty has gleaned from this drive-thru tournament. I note he has assembled a 17-player high-performance training camp in Antigua to prepare for an upcoming one-day series against Sri Lanka. We will have to wait with bated breath for the Test squad announcement to see if the lone selector noticed that West Indies regulars like Kavem Hodge and Alick Athanaze hardly covered themselves in glory this season. Similarly, Jamaican openers John Campbell and Kirk McKenzie looked like world-beaters against Barbados, but how would they have fared against the relentless pace of Seales, Phillip, and Hinds? Kevin Wickham bludgeoned three scintillating centuries against Jamaica, yet managed just 3 and 19 against T&T. Is he ready for the step up? And what, pray tell, has current West Indies captain Roston Chase actually done in this tournament to justify his billing?

At the end of the day, truncated or watered down, a trophy is a trophy. Take a bow, T&T Red Force. And perhaps, with this regional title finally secured, the General can ride off into the sunset, entirely satisfied that his 17-year wait is over.