Lucky West Indies? Fighting hard did it

THE EDITOR: If I were a gambling man I would have bet that only a handful of people in the Caribbean would have woken at 3 am on Wednesday to see the first ball bowled in the West Indies ODI World Cup qualifier against Scotland, the ball that got Chris Gayle out – and probably out of West Indies cricket as well.

This was a game of immense significance to the people of the West Indies. So how many supporters got up in the early hours of the morning to support our team?

I thoroughly enjoyed watching those qualifying games – with the exception of the loss to Afghanistan. My friends wanted to know if I was crazy. Well, if one prefers to see the West Indies play the likes of Australia, India or South Africa, against which we hardly have a chance of winning, then go ahead.

There is an old saying that once you know your place in life, it is much easier to deal with things. I have accepted our team for where it is and will continue to support it.

I enjoyed seeing the West Indies win for a change and some of the games were very close. Do not discount the saying that winning is a habit and losing is also a habit. If we continue to win more we will slowly make it back to the top.

I went to the Queen’s Park Oval on March 17 to see a game but there was almost no one there. In my days of playing village cricket we had more spectators than at the Oval. Where are the families and friends of these players? Where is the support base? How are these players motivated? We need to support our players.

It is no secret that teams like Scotland, Afghanistan and Ireland are closing the gap on the West Indies. Even the United Arab Emirates stunned Zimbabwe and knocked them out of the tournament.

So was the WI really lucky? I do not think so. We played well within ourselves. Our boys fought hard. And we must remember the team is an inexperienced one, missing key players. The coach pointed out that with the exception of Gayle and Marlon Samuels, the West Indies players probably had less experience than the Scottish players, who have played a lot of cricket including county cricket.

So hats off to Jason Holder and his men. We are in the World Cup.

TERRENCE KALLOO via e-mail