Murder on the cricket field

THE EDITOR: Many people who are near and dear to my heart have tragically been unfortunate enough to not survive this year and have progressed into the great beyond the land of the living. There is also my beloved West Indies Test cricket team.

The true tragedy of the passing of this once young and vibrant cricket team is that it was terribly tortured by incompetence and mismanagement for three decades and then murdered before a grieving world. This murder has been painfully aknowledged by the rest of the international cricketing nations with their refusal to play Test match cricket against the WI in recent times.

The WI toured India recently and was not required to play any Tests, only a T20 series and an ODI series, which the regional teams lost both, as has become the norm in recent times. It is no coincidence that Pakistan and now India once again – and even Australia – have refused to play Tests against the laughable WI.

You see, the court of public opinion has ruled that it is neither worth the time of day or night to watch WI Test cricket anymore. This is because sports is now a premiere global entertainment industry and the fans are saying with one voice that it is not worth their time to watch the WI constantly humiliated, with even the proud Caribbean faithful no longer attending matches in significant numbers.

What is truly frightening is that the relevant authorities have no suspect in the gruesome murder of the Test team by people unknown and the WI T20 and ODI teams are now no longer competitive and may face a similar sad fate.

So unless you believe in the resurrection of the dead, please stop concerning yourself with the late great WI Test team and say a prayer for the survival of the T20 and ODI teams in the coming year.

FITZROY OTHELLO

Princes Town