Kensington Oval in Bridgetown Barbados is known as the ‘Home of WI Cricket’ so it was appropriate that the final game of the ICC World Cup Cricket Competition was held there. I went to three games in Barbados including the nail-biter between the WI and England which we lost. I did not go to the finals because I found it difficult to pay US$300 to see a game in which the WI was not playing.
You know that you are in Barbados when you see pictures of Sir Garfield Sobers on almost every bus stop. In fact, Sir Garfield is the only living National Hero in Barbados and most appropriately the final game of the World Cup was played on Heroes Day. You also know that you are in Barbados when you turn on your television and see the finals of the primary school cricket competition including a pitch invasion by the students and parents of the winning school at the end of the game. Only in Barbados where cricket is still the king of sports are you likely to see this.
Let’s get back to the World Cup. Bajans, like all West Indians, are extremely disappointed, saddened and upset at the poor performance of the WI team. During the tournament there were dozens of newspaper articles in the two Bajan daily newspapers commenting on the team’s demise and one can expect many more now that the competition has ended and the post mortem is about to start. Cricket lovers in Barbados even convened a lecture a few weeks ago to discuss the demise of out team and to suggest a way forward. The lecture room was so full that they had to turn people away. A popular recommendation out of the lecture was to totally dismantle the WI Cricket Board and create a new structure accountable to the people of the region.
From a KC standpoint, although Marlon Samuel batted well in the WI game against England, Bajans found it hard to forgive him for running out Lara in what was Lara’s final game for the WI. Ticket sales for that game were going slowly until Lara’s shock announcement three days before the game that he would be retiring after the game against England. Hundreds of Bajans who had no intention of going to that game suddenly found a reason to and descended on the ticket office which was not prepared for the onslaught and had to bring in extra security to deal with the crowd. All they wanted was to see the Prince of Port of Spain for one last time and to say good bye to the Skip. After Gayle’s onslaught most people in the Oval were ecstatic to see that Lara had come in at number three and thought that he was looking good and in fine form until he was run out during a mix up with Samuels. There were many Trini fans in the Oval and as far as they were concerned Samuels should stay out of Trinidad for the near future. We are still speculating as to the reason why Samuels did not take the field when England batted. Despite the one wicket loss I enjoyed the lime in the Oval and especially the sight of senior citizen Gravy (chef’s hat, frying pan and all) who was brought out of retirement in Antigua to entertain the crowd as he did for years at the Recreation Ground.
Of course we all saw and heard Michael Holding in the commentary box and on the pitch for the spinning of the toss and for an analysis of the wicket before most of the games. Many here have said that he was too critical of some of the WI players including Lara who he felt should have retired long ago. Again, like Samuel I suspect that he will not be welcomed in Trinidad anytime soon but we all know that such things will not worry Holding who has developed a reputation as a hard-talking no-nonsense cricket analyst who is not afraid to speak his mind on the radio even when he is in Trinidad and criticizing Lara.
As we go back to our lives without cricket and return our newly bought flat screen plasma television (bought to watch cricket) to the store for a refund, we can now look forward with anticipation to the start of the outdoor athletic season, to the fortunes of Asafa, Bolt and others and to the Olympic Games in China in 2008. Oh, I almost forgot that the WI cricket team’s tour of England begins on May 12. I am going to take back the television set anyway. And by the way: congratulations to Australia, the team that demolished all and sundry before them in much the same style as Clive Lloyd and his boys did in the ‘70s and ‘80s!
