I’m generally contrary about sporting matters. If people tell me somebody is ‘a great’, I’ll try and find something factual or otherwise that proves he or she is a flat track bully. If someone tells me it’s a golden generation, I’ll argue until I’m blue in the face that in fact they’re a bunch of overpaid, overhyped showponies whose technical deficiencies are highlighted every time they play in a major competition.
My other sporting foible, is that I religiously support the underdog. My football team is in the fourth division, after a recent spell in the conference. I support Scotland over England, the country of my birth, in all sports. And in cricket, I support the West Indies. My favourite recent cricketing memory was not England winning the Ashes in 2005 (although that was brilliant), but Jerome Taylor skittling England for 51 in Jamaica a year or two ago.
I’m not anti-this England team (although the presence of four Saffers in the top seven grates a little, and the ECB’s current pact with pay TV irks a lot). I’d like them to have a decent world cup (runners-up to the Windies in a dream scenario) because I know that a winning England team will keep a certain level of interest in the sport, too.
Wthe Windies ruled the world, I didn’t support them. I supported England. But as I got older, and their powers started to wain, I saw what the West Indies had given to cricket, and to the World. It had stuck two fingers up at the old duffers who’d run the game so badly for so long, making the game staid and snobby. It had infuriated the old the insidious old farts in the commentary box who claimed bouncers from Willis was good bowling, while bouncers from Garner were intimidatory. It had proved that scoring at two runs an over was tedious and unproductive. And what’s more, in England, it proved that cricket wasn’t just a game for white kids in white public schools.
From the age of 11, when I played my first competitive game of cricket at School, to the age of about 21, I’d say at least 20 percent of the people I played with or against were of West Indian origin. At the time, England had any number of black players. DeFreitas, Small, Slack, Lewis, Malcolm to name but a few… the county circuit was similarly well represented. And, I reckon that’s because at the time of those players growing up, the West Indies team were role models. That wonderful Windies team made a sport that is inherently uncool, cool.
Sadly, far fewer black kids play cricket now in England. I spent a season a few years ago playing seconds for a team in North London, playing against lots of (often brilliant) young Asian kids, but remember seeing only three black players. That’s represented at all levels of cricket now in England…The last black England player to play more than a solitary test…? We’re going back a few years. So a strong West Indies team is good for the Caribbean, it’s good for English cricket, and it’s good for the sport too.
Whether or not cricket will ever recover in the region, especially after the ICC screwed up that 2007 world cup their so spectacularly (the idiocy of culling grounds like The Rec and The Bourda and replacing them with soulless out-of-town Deva Stadium-esque monstrosities – aaarggh!!!) is another question, but let’s hope. If cricket dies off in that part of the world, it would be a tragedy we’ll feel in England too.
The good news is the current West Indies team has potential. Chris Gayle is awesome (I dream of a team with him and Sehwag opening). I watched Darren Bravo on Eurosport, and the boy can seriously bat. Chanderpaul, Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo are decent cricketers. Sulieman Benn can be a handful. Kemar Roach looks a good fast bowler. I’m guessing Fidel Edwards is injured but if he comes back he will add something to the attack, as would Jerome Taylor. So there’s the core of a decent team. I’d love it if they have a decent world cup.
Which is why I’m here in Delhi on the morning of the Windies match against South Africa. I wanted this to be the first match I saw on the odyssey … I’m now faced with a crisis. I really didn’t think it would sell out, but according to the ICC’s hopeless ticket website, it has. Or it might have done, Or, no-one knows. Or, they do know but they can’t be bothered to tell anyone.
I’m ticketless but hopeful. Can’t say anymore for fear of jinxing it. Wish me luck.
Late update: Well, I got in (tickets for sale everywhere, ground half empty, god bless the ICC’s clear ticket information). I also managed to source another way in…that’s another story. The Windies, bless ‘em, showed what they’ve showed for the previous few years, and odd mixture of brilliance, terribleness, and fallibility. Darren Bravo played a knock that few who saw will forget in a hurry, he then got out, like he always does, in the 70s. The loss of Dwayne through injury will be hard felt, but the worry is, this team won’t be able to bowl out anyone: their best bet is to bat second and chase.
The day’s other news is about tomorrow. I’m booked to go to Agra to see the Taj…except it’s shut on Friday. But with all my onward flight booked from there, I’ve got to go, and not see the Taj. Going to Agra and not seeing the Taj is like going to Oxford and not watching United, pointless. If you wanted a report on its locked gates, log in this time tomorrow.
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