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The Darkest Day In West Indies Cricket

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west_indies_cricketThe West Indies cricket test team was beaten by the Bangladeshis today. The significance of this result of being beaten by a team ranked last in the ICC Rankings is yet to needle its way into the psyche of the depraved West Indian cricket fan.

The West Cricket team represents one of the few regional entities which had been held up as a symbol of Caribbean unity. In light of the illogical decisions in recent years exhibited by the WIBC and WIPA, the biggest stakeholder of all the PEOPLE has now been dulled into a state of apathy.

To be a world class performer in any sphere requires the best management approaches and all that it brings. The members of the Board of Management (WIBC) which oversees West Indies cricket are not selected based on any pre-requisite competencies which mimic how successful organizations are run. Instead the Directors of the WIBC are all elected based on membership in private enclaves which operate based on petty whims and fancies of many seeking fame and fortune.

While the focus has always been on the WIBC and WIPA, there are other stakeholders equally or more important to ensuring the success of West Indies cricket. When several Caribbean government took the decision to pump millions into cricket stadia and collateral infrastructure to stage CWC 2007 the PEOPLE became the key stakeholder in the business of West Indies cricket. Bear in mind with the exception of Trinidad, and to a lesser extent Barbados, any decent economist would have advised against the impoverished Caribbean islands assuming the additional debt based on a payback linked to legacy. The subsequent actions by the Caricom governments to pump scare resources into CWC 2007 suggest a failing of leadership, BU further suggests that the region is being afflicted by this dearth in leadership in every facet of governance.

The statement which best surmises the state of West Indies cricket was made earlier this month by Dr. Julian Hunte, President of the WIBC:

The WICB President pointed out that although the West Indies players are the third best paid in the world (after England and Australia), they are ranked Number 8 and that their performances are inconsistent with the emoluments they receive.  Dr. Hunte said, We want our team to be Number One both in performance and emoluments.  However, if we do not start winning we run the risk of being relegated and we will not be able to earn the money that we require to regain our place at the pinnacle of world cricket.

There is enough blame to spread around in what has become the sorry tale of the demise of West Indies cricket. Unfortunately the WIBC is currently the entity charged with the responsibility to lead West Indies cricket to the banks of safety. For this reason alone we support the WIBC’s position to banish the WIPA to obscurity and develop a roadmap 10 years too late to rebuild West Indies cricket.

Better late than never!

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110 responses to “The Darkest Day In West Indies Cricket”

  1. caribbeancomment Avatar
    caribbeancomment

    @The Scout
    “We must bear in mind that the W.I team was formed in the days this countries were all colonies. However, if ever disbanded, we would never be able to come back as a W.I team as we are now mostly seperate nation, hence each one will have to seek membership as seperate Cricket playing countries and none of us are capable enough of doing such, nor would the ICC entertain it.” [Why do you believe that the ICC would not entertain it? West Indies would lose full membership, probably, but countries can be associates. There is no British team, but England and Scotland and Wales, and even Jersey are associates and field teams. There is no EU team and belgium, France, Germany, Holland play. Bermuda is an associate and The Bahamas an affiliate. Rebuilding can be done. Is it that you believe that what is done cannot be undone?]

  2. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    The region needs to make some tough decisions about what it wants to do collectively and individually as nations. As I’ve said above, there is no real problem in recognizing that the nature and love of cricket has changed and perhaps rolling with that differentiated view by working from the national basis going forward. It could involve a lot few compromises and countries with really limited resources may want to really drive for cricket excellence and lesser achievements elsewhere.

    On the reasons for crickets demise, a lot of theories about, but the game and its development has had its cycles for decades. West Indies cricket does not have a good regional developmental structure from schools, through youth outside school, then club level. There are many models that work for other sports and have shown that quick progress can be made. The US experience with soccer is one model that is easy to see in our region. The UK French, German, Italian and Spanish approaches are all different but have managed to keep a steady flow of players coming through from schoolboy to full international level. For those who really want to see what can happen with yet another set of approaches look at Ghana and Nigeria. So, examples we do not lack. Cohesion we do not have. We may be struggling for resources and that may push some countries to band together rather than go it alone.

    Putting heads into the sand and reminiscing about the past wont help build for the future.

    It’s not clear that what boys are attracted now makes much difference to their ability to play well. If it does matter, then you have to explain why that does not seem to hold for other sports and in other regions.

    As for the impact of co-education, that’s a straw clutched at for so many ills. Again, if it matters in the region why are our children we so peculiar as to be different from children who develop in other Continents?

  3. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    Correction:
    On the reasons for CRICKET’S demise, a lot of theories ABOUND…

  4. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    Caribbeancomment=LIB (it’s a wordpress.com default).

  5. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    There is no more West Indies, as colonies, therefore there will be no West Indies as a cricket team if it is disbanded. These little big rocks in the caribbean can never have and maintain competitive cricket teams individually. Imagine T&T playing Barbados in a three match TEST series; NEVER. What is happening with cricket in the region is just a reflection of what is happening in regional politics, lots of wrangling and arrogance cpupled with lots of underhand dealing with little transparentcy

  6. Tired of Crap Avatar
    Tired of Crap

    Something was lost in translation. Has WICB called for the extinction of WIPA or just BU? It is interesting that you use the words “WIBC is currently the entity charged with the responsibility to lead West Indies cricket to the banks of safety”. Having read the response by WIPA in the Nation newspaper of Wednesday July 15th, I think we need to ask for greater transparency from the WICB on the state of their finances. After the news broke about the ponzi scheme run by Stanford, questions were asked about whether 20/20 players had invested their earnings with Sir Alan. Have we asked those same questions of the WICB? Based on the issues identified by WIPA in today’s Nation, WICB seems to be having grave financial challenges. I have to agree that WIPAs actions have been hostile, but sportsmen need representation and any call to make it obsolete is myopic.

  7. Valleta Avatar
    Valleta

    Hi , new to this blog so excuse any paragraphical errors.What is the cause of this current dispute?If I’m wrong correct me , but if it is true that the players were not payed since they were in New Zealand last year , it is inexcusable on the WICB to expect them to continue like this. As far as I know , there must be some contracts signed with the agreed upon sums that they are to be paid. So withstanding any performance based clause WIPA would be in the right to strike for payments not received. The WICB only made things worse by asking for an apology which they would not deserve.That is arrogant and childish.Even more arrogant and childish to field a team of any rabble you can find at short notice. My advice , get rid of the WICB altogether , as it too full of tzars and kingpins and replace it with a more transparent , less bankrupt entity , with a more Meritocratic modus operendi. As for the next match put some more batsmen that can play spin , at least two.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    @Valleta

    Speaking subject to correction but it is our understanding WIPA is disputing playing without contracts and not being paid.

  9. Living in Barbados Avatar
    Living in Barbados

    @The Scout
    “There is no more West Indies, as colonies, therefore there will be no West Indies as a cricket team if it is disbanded. These little big rocks in the caribbean can never have and maintain competitive cricket teams individually. Imagine T&T playing Barbados in a three match TEST series; NEVER. What is happening with cricket in the region is just a reflection of what is happening in regional politics, lots of wrangling and arrogance cpupled with lots of underhand dealing with little transparentcy” [Oh yea of little faith, I could say. Yes, brand “West Indies’ would be gone from cricket. But, if what you say is true then we should really and truly question all of the money spent of fielding national teams in international competitions, because your argument says “We can’ beat dem…” But Jamaica and Trinidad made it to the World Cup finals. The nations show their best can be the best in the Olympics, World Track Championships, Commonwealth Games, and more. If the bar is really too high then I would still say reach for it. A sense of regionalism should not stifle nationalism, and there are differences (some would say quite large in the national approaches in the region). Jamaica has found a way to nurture certain sporting talents. So, have the very small islands such as St Kitts and Antigua. We must try to see that as small as we are we can become bigger and better. Are we too timid to try?

    I think (subject to correction) that we are the only group of countries that wants to band together as a region in a particular sport.

  10. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    L.I.B
    Obviously, you know nothing about the structure of Int. cricket. It is not like joining a club. When Barbados or any of the little islands here in the region applies for membership, they would have to satisfy the ICC that they can produce and maintain a competitive team. This would have to happen over a sustained period of time, could be ten, fifteen years, before the team reaches test status. There are countries who have been trying for many years to reach test status and have not even gotten close. Right now, the ICC is advocating demoting the W.I team to a new so-called “b” grade test status. If the entire W.I team barely making test status, tell me how can individual countries make it?

  11. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    Indications are that if Julian Hunte regain the position as head of WICB, Digicel will withdraw their sponsorship. Even since the impass with Hunte and the WICB over the Stanford issue, Digicel’s chairman O’brien, threatened to back out unless Hunte was removed as chairman. Now with the bad publicity the team is getting, Digicel is telling the WICB, get their act together or else. The problem is that Lime (C&W) is not interested in because of the way they were treated in the switch to Digicel

  12. Livinginbarbados Avatar
    Livinginbarbados

    @The Scout
    “Obviously, you know nothing about the structure of Int. cricket.”
    [I know when people cannot move radically and look to tinker at the edges. The structure of international cricket is not radically different from the structure of most international sports. It has it rules and its thresholds and they can be met or not. Many of the national structure can meet the criteria, as we are well established cricketing nations. If the regional team is due to be demoted then that makes more of an argument for letting individual countries move as they wish. I do not believe that the regional teams that have been chosen for most of the past decade represent the best that can be put out; they involved too many compromises. So, if we have not been fielding the best by going regional, what is the gain from continuing with that structure?

    Nothing to fear but fear itself.

  13. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    LIB
    Where is this reservoir of cricketers to come from? Many years ago when we have genuine test cricketers, even with Barbados having as many as eight or nine players on the W.I test team at any one time, we could not sustain that over a long period of time. Each of these countries are too small, we don’t have the depth of players to choose from, even if we only played cricket alone. Let’s face reality, I know we like thinking that we are just as good as anyone else but sometimes we also make a fool of ourselves. Look at Australia, South Africa, India, Barbados will fit into these countries thousands of times, yet these countries find it hard sometimes to be competitive. Each of them have a population of millions, we only have 1/4 million, tell me how can we compete? Are our players made of superior material?

  14. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    LIB
    Would you challenge a wild lion to a fight?

  15. Themis Avatar
    Themis

    I’m with the Scout on this one, Themis. Separate West Indian teams will be of nothing but nuisance value in the sport for a good few years…and that could be costly. I see the logic of your argument but I fail to see what purpose fission would serve for the sake of cricket.

  16. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @The Scout: Admitted the pool for our countries will not be as deep as for larger countries, but that is already the case. You still build to compete as best you can and may have to accept that we are lesser grade. But the sport is also changing and the trend toward limited over helps narrow the differences. As I said, if we do not believe our nations can compete individually in what is supposed to be one of our strengths who have we been fooling with national teams being sent out in other sports?

  17. Themis Avatar
    Themis

    That vocative should have been of course LIB not Themis!

  18. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @The Scout: Challenge a wild lion? David beat Goliath…

  19. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @Themis: Part of the resistance to dismantling WI as a team comes from the time it takes to rebuild, but I am not saying you start now and assume an equivalent position. I look at how transitions have come about. Perhaps my perspective is tainted by seeing and knowing and playing on teams that began as nothing/lesser but rose to challenge the best. Look at the USA in soccer (maybe size helps but structure and development did too). Look at European premier leagues in soccer and the teams that rose in the past 10 years from lowly to higher status? I see nothing hallowed about cricket development. I see it in the context of a medium term that could be worked on over say 5 years.

  20. Valletta Avatar
    Valletta

    What separate or dismantle the team and build the team from scratch are you talking about , that’s ignoring the problem not fixing it. Akin to dismantling the Great Pyramids and rebuilding from scratch. It may be ancient and ruined but it stood the test of time. United we stand ; Divided we fall. Pay the men their fees and bring back a first rate team. The blame here may go both ways , but it is the WICB who has been charged with central planning for W.I cricket and to allow things to unhinge like this? Now we produce a SECOND rate WEST INDIES TEAM (oh for the glory days) which cannot even NEGATE Bangladesh , the shame. I’d be willing to wager that New Zealand , ranked just below us , would field a more prepared and capable second rate team. Hell just about anyone else would , Bangladesh is the weakest team. Now some say disband and disintegrate in total route , leaving our leading team to go stand in the corner because of WICB’S hurt hubris. If they had any ounce of honor they would see the urgent need to field a team of the best the ENTIRE region has to offer and not second or third rate. If this is what the people will stand for , an arrogant board who’s hurt pride comes first even if the name of WEST INDIES cricket must be brought even lower , leaders who cannot see a problem that needs to be urgently fixed and fixed once and for all , then they should prepare for a maiden series win by BANGLADESH over WEST INDIES. This trend of lacking leadership is occurring worldwide where their motto is “all for one and none for the rest”. So dismantle , flee to the winds , but the Bengal Tiger smells blood and is moving in for the kill. They will not let this opportunity to whitewash W.I slip their grasps. They are up for a chase , they are chasing glory while we run from it.

  21. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    LIB
    Dismantling the WI team and trying toi go individually is harder than giving an average 5 year old all the tools needed and ask that child to assemble a high powered racing car; impossible. Any one can’t just wake up one morning and decide they are going to participate in the 100 m against Bolt.

  22. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    LIB
    We seem to be on two seperate wave lengths, therefore, just let us agree to disagree.

  23. Livinginbarbados Avatar
    Livinginbarbados

    @The Scout
    Agreed that we agree to disagree. I do not expect much support for my view, but it also goes deeper than the sport, or one sport, and looks at what is really involved in being nations rather than colonies, and the logic that this imposes. But, let’s put that onto a shelf for another day.

    Whatever progress we may wish to see we have to ask if we have people and institutions capable of making that possible. Ethics and principles are things that are sadly lacking in many regional/national institutions and, I believe, that what we see in cricket is a microcosm of the malaise in those aspects. Whatever form the future takes it will be as fragile as these missing elements allow it to be.

  24. Livinginbarbados Avatar
    Livinginbarbados

    @The Scout
    “Any one can’t just wake up one morning and decide they are going to participate in the 100 m against Bolt” [Agreed. But, I think we have very different time frames in mind. Bolt was not born the fastest in the world and had to work to that objective. I do not envisage, nor think realise that one can slide over from ‘now’ to ‘then’ with no loss. But one of our/the problems is in not having visions and building toward them.

    Likewise, using your image, Bolt was inspired by others from the past, and he will inspire others in the future. Having coached and formed teams, you take the decade/10,000 hours view (now popularised by Malcolm Gladwell in his book ‘Outliers’) . There is no instant success, like there is no instant failure. Both are processes and have their drivers.

    But, we are still agreed to disagree.

  25. Livinginbarbados Avatar
    Livinginbarbados

    Correction: …think realisTIC…

  26. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    Both sides in this impasse are playing hardball. What is interesting however is the fact that WICB and WIPA has gone to arbitration seven times and WICB has lost everything. Plus they have not honored the ruling of the arbitration committee. Also, the chairman of Digicel, the sponsorers, have threaten to withdraw their sponsorship and even recommend that the Chairman of the WICB be fired, yet nothing has been done. PJ Paterson’s report has made some revolutioary suggestions to save WI cricket which includes the disbandoning of the board and it has been ignored. It is obvious that the WICB intend to take WI cricket to the grave with them and it is all because of colonial arrogance.
    I remember many years ago, I was a boxing judge, a senior judge once told me he deducts points from a boxer if his cloths are not tucked in properly and his hair combed and he looks neat. Mike Tyson could have never won a fight with him judging unless he knocks out him opponent; colonial thinking. I hear soime oldsters complaining now because the new style of the shirts in cricket allow the shirts to be worn on the outside.

  27. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    They criticise Chris Gayle’s hair style but the white guys with their long hair on their shoulders is O.K

  28. Livinginbarbados Avatar
    Livinginbarbados

    @The Scout
    Of course, unless the clothes or hair, etc. materially affect the performance, they are as irrelevant as the colour of the eyes, or underpants, or the nature of the manicure. Not substance. Pure style.

  29. David Avatar
    David

    Based on reports in the media Chairman of Caricom Jagdeo will meet with WIPA today to see how stakeholder governments can broker some resolution to the current impasse between the WIBC and WIPA. There is a hollow ring to this saga as it begins to panout.

  30. Valletta Avatar
    Valletta

    It’s all over now. Those JOKERS at WICB have not read the game and have failed to place more batsmen that can play spin in the team or do the needed batsmen refuse to play. The signs are there when even Nash , who’s naval string is buried elsewhere , shows solidarity with WIPA but the Reifer Team has betrayed the strike. Mostly comprised of Bajans , where is their PRIDE and industry. Will wait and see if the W.I can SURVIVE the day. Don’t get me wrong I support this team even if less than the GAYLE TEAM and I wouldn’t like to see them fail , especially to Bangladesh.I would feel it like any true Antillian of the Lesser Antilles ( west indies has always sounded too colonial to me , and indies too east indian when they are not the majority and caricomite or caricomedian or caricomman just aren’t proper adjectives that appeal to me).

  31. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    LIB
    Since you referenced Gladwell, this latest fiasco is “The Tipping Point”. WI cricket is on a downward spiral from which it may never recover.

  32. Livinginbarbados Avatar
    Livinginbarbados

    @Sargeant
    I’m not sure that the latest fiasco makes the WI cricket circumstances Gladwellian–it’s no ‘little thing’ that’s going wrong now. But, let’s agree that we have the makings of a major change.

    My observations are that only gradual change can come from ‘stable’ conditions; you need ‘chaos’ or ‘catastrophe’ to effect major change. In the Caribbean there is often pride in having created stability. Almost by definition we see that change cannot be radical. I also believe that life is about challenges and turning negatives into positives, rather than just a series of problems that are not overcome.

    My views are about effecting a certain kind of change, and I have seen it work in bigger and tougher circumstances.

    Mixing methaphors again, it’s like figuring out if the home you want will be better built around the existing structure or if you need to pull down and start again or some combination.

    I look back across the Ocean and see sport sets up that are the result of teams that were consigned to the waste heap, even put out of total existence, some 30-40 years ago, which have since come back and regained important standing. The world in which they now play is not that of the 1960s/70s, but they are also not the team of the 1960s/70s. Many of the so-called ‘greatest’ teams have gone through some radical changes to ‘stay on top’, not all choosing the same route by any stretch of the imagination.

    As with The Scout, we can agree to disagree.

  33. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    LIB

    Those teams that were consigned to the “waste heap” did not face the same constraints as the WI team. Some of those teams were community based teams or national teams with a natural base of supporters and patriots who were obligated to support their local or national team. The WI cricket team is nominally national but operates under the direction of people with loyalties to the island of their birth or their political patron. It is hampered by a Board whose members are a perfect example of the “Peter Principle” and players who are the epitome of selfishness. The selection of the team is seen through the eyes of insularism and the results seem to confirm the fans outlook. Winning tends to obliterate any faults but a prolonged losing cycle will generate long term disinterest. When cricket was all we had the players and fans were a given, but young people have a variety of activities to choose from and given the availability of technology and affluence many fans can and will look for other means to satisfy their sporting appetites.

    I would be surprised if the WI cricket administrators knew who the fans are; many of my peers in North America make trips down to the Caribbean to watch cricket, you can be certain that our children will not have the same attitude towards the game. Does the WICB know the make up of the local fans that attend games and support the team? Is it comprised mainly of the “Baby Boomer” generation as I suspect? If so how do they plan to rekindle interest in a younger crowd? If you listen to the “call in” shows where cricket is central to the discussion most of the callers are people of a certain age bracket, cricket is not on the younger peoples’ radar.

    You know you are in trouble when your team becomes part of a comedian’s monologue or when your email is inundated with jokes about your team.

    This now casual fan can take it or leave it. I choose to leave it

  34. Livinginbarbados Avatar
    Livinginbarbados

    @Sargeant
    “Those teams that were consigned to the “waste heap” did not face the same constraints as the WI team….” [There is not much in your assessment with which I would disagree. But on “Some of those teams were community based teams or national teams with a natural base of supporters and patriots who were obligated to support their local or national team.” I wont go with ‘obligated’, But you touch on ‘natural base’, and that is part of my rationale about building on the national foundation. All you say after, about WI cricket and its administration I concur with.

    I too am one who could leave it, but I posit that the ashes (bad pun?) could be something from which to rebuild, if there are those who wish to undertake that. We could of course all leave it and focus on other things (eg sports from which we could open better educational doors for our youth, focus on technology development…), which is also an option to which I might lend support.

    Comments I hear show no faith in WICB (and that has been the case for a very long time). Why are they still in place? WIPA is in some senses the adversary that was created to treat with WICB but the latter is a law unto itself, and we know where that usually leads.

    Time to focus on more uplifting things, so I will bail out (another bad pun?).

  35. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    I understand fro usually good sources, that some top W.I players are being asked to join the new U.S.A Twenty 20 tournament that should get going sometimw next year. If this happens W.I cricket would be crippled, since the U.S tend to talk big money for their sportsmen. I think this is a follow on to the Stanford tournament which a new company in U.S.A is taking up.
    The WICB had a chance to run with the same Stanford concept but dragged their feet.

  36. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    Some other top players from other countries are being targeted but the only one biting so far are the W.I

  37. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    The make shift W.I team has just been humiliated by no less a team than Bangledash. Is the WICB and the WIPA so arrogant that they would both continue to play hardball and future embarrass not only the W I team but the fans also? From the time I was a little boy in Sir Frank Worrell’s day, I have supported the W.I team. Even through their bad times now, I’ve supported them. That support comes to an abrupt end now, if this same team is forced to continue and face further humiliation. I will find another sport to follow.

  38. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    There is a question that used to be asked to the limbo dancers, “how low can you go.” The W.I cricket administration is not doing the limbo, they are doing the crawl, and right now they are on their guts and still trying to go further down. I thought that being “white or black or coolie washed” by Bangledash was the lowest, now T&T is taling about pulling out. It is obvious the grave is now being dug.

  39. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I hope west indians are watching how race and apanjaat (ie stick with your own race),always factors in when you are dealing with an indian.

    Look carefully to see the time when ramnarine decided to seek caricom’s intervention.

    It was when you had an indian prime minister as the head – jagdeo.

    Look to who was selected to mediate – shridath ramphal.

    Suddenly with jagdeo being given some good P.R. we now have the players association representative agreeing to a quick resolution,and a guyanese indian who declared that the majority black country ( Barbados) which offered him a home but he nows describes as practising ethnic cleansing – is now the mediator.

    Perhaps now he might suggest more indians on the W.I. cricket team.

  40. Themis Avatar
    Themis

    You are hopelessly catching at straws to ignite a non-existent fire, Anonymous! Come off it!

  41. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Themis

    Simple.Prove me wrong or shut up.

  42. Themis Avatar
    Themis

    Ok, do you want the “Indians” out of the Wea st Indies team? What are Ramphal’s qualities as a mediator? Could Ramnarine have chosen a different time to have the current controversy settled? Remain Anonymous, do!

  43. David Avatar
    David

    In light of Ramphal’s ethnic cleansing statement this gentleman’s appointment to mediate does smack of insensitivity. He did admit he was wrong by basing his comment on a Nationa newspaper report when a man of his prominence could have used other ways to corroborate.

  44. Themis Avatar
    Themis

    Ramphal did not assert that there was ethnic cleansing? He said that there were intimations of such. If I say that there are intimations of racism/ethnicism on BU am I saying that BU is racist/ethnicist?

  45. David Avatar
    David

    @Themis

    The assert was dishonest by Ramphal in the context of the discussion. He based his statement on a newspaper report and that is the flawed premise which he acted on which displayed disingenuity. You don;t even have to factor that he is a diplomatic actor who is Guyanese and careless words would have obviously inflamed a situation in the context of Caricom relations.

  46. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    The real question, as far as I’m concerned, is why the WIPA was the one to ask Caricom for help. The WICB is the one that benefits most from regional governments and they seemed prepared to pull W.I cricket and by expension the whole region down. Had the WICB approach Caricom, in the first case, W.I would have PROBABLY been better represented in the series against Bangledash.

  47. Avatar
    Anonymous

    @Themis (LIB): I said some time ago that “intimations” would be forget. Popular use has already replaced it with “practising”. Should he have sought to use other channels to corroborate. Probably. Would it have helped? Can’t say. The PM first said there were no raid then changed that to clarify the context. (I need to revisit those news reports, but can I verify them. Try checking with GIS. I defy anyone to show me a clear government statement at or near the time.)
    “

  48. David Avatar
    David

    Submitted on 2009/07/22 at 11:17am

    @Themis (LIB): I said some time ago that “intimations” would be forget. Popular use has already replaced it with “practising”. Should he have sought to use other channels to corroborate. Probably. Would it have helped? Can’t say. The PM first said there were no raid then changed that to clarify the context. (I need to revisit those news reports, but can I verify them. Try checking with GIS. I defy anyone to show me a clear government statement at or near the time.)
    “

    Even if the government bungled the PR on the amnesty you have not provided any good reason why Sir Shridath Ramphal should have maded the statement he did based on a Nation newspaper report.

  49. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    Some of us have agreed to disagree on ways forward for WI cricket. I just offer the link to a story of a once famous/mighty sporting outfit that wallowed for over 30 years far from the top flight, but who this season will be back there, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/sports/soccer/25soccer.html?_r=1&hp. The story of Burnley Football Club is not unique but has some bigger lessons. If you want to read of its history (founded in around 1890), the Wikipedia version is quite good.

    Burnley FC’s fate has matched closely the fate of the town through economic times. The club was always renowned for excellent scouting of talent and training. It survived for a long time by playing well and developing well young players who were sold to bolster finances. Some of the greatest players in the English game came through the Burnley ‘system’. The club had to survive always in the shadows of ‘mightier’ big city clubs (like the two Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Everton), even when they were champions. Those mightier clubs would often be much more attractive financially and in terms of possible success. Burnley also had to stave off competition from a range of nearby professional clubs, who had mixed fortunes. (If you do not know the map of English soccer, just look at a map of Lancashire to see the many professional clubs there.)

    Survival in English soccer is not like in the US, where the organizing bodies aim to help parity by the draft system or the moving of teams around the country. Teams have to work for it all themselves.

    Moral: If you can only visualize your destiny a few short steps ahead you will never reach very far.

    Two thoughts have gone through my mind in recent weeks. Access to English county cricket was a boon to WIndies at a key time. When it was less available what was done to fill the gap? We continued to plough resources into producing sugar when our costs of production were well in excess of world prices but our sales were made possible by EU subsidies. We did little to adjust to life without those subsidies even though the EU had clearly set out the timetable for their withdrawal. When the subsidies ended, we cried ‘foul’ or ‘help’.

    I don’t think our regional record on foresight and planning is very good. Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted is too common. Worse still is letting the horse bolt and not doing anything about the gaping stable door. I think the region is good at both. Cricket is just the latest example.

    Just food for thought.

  50. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    LIB

    The club had to survive always in the shadows of ‘mightier’ big city clubs (like the two Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Everton
    ***********************************
    I have very little knowledge of the UK but I think that you’ve redrawn the map and relocated those two teams.

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