Championship blues

THERE’S no point in playing a cricket game, or any game for that matter, unless one is playing to win. In a two-inning game of cricket, if a team is in danger of losing, then drawing the game is an option. However, in matches of the limited-overs variety, there is only a winner or a loser, though of course games could be abandoned for bad weather or unexpected circumstances.

Nevertheless, in sport there are winners and losers.

This brings me to the recent West Indies Championship tournament, which is a four-day competition that is rated first-class in the region, and is the format from which top regional Test cricketers develop and improve their skills.

How can any of this happen if one’s team is not winning.

I was quite disappointed to read that the coach of the TT Red Force team, David Furlonge, was pleased with the performance of his team in the recently concluded regional Championship competition.

The team placed fifth in the standings of eight teams that participated.

Two of the competitors that were beaten are the West Indies Academy and the Combined Campuses and Colleges.

As a coach myself I could never be satisfied with not winning, though maybe it would be a consolation to place second or third.

This acceptance of placing fifth and talking about positives coming out of the competition should never be accepted; they are really only excuses.

The coach says: “We had three bad innings, but I think our season was a good one. We had six centuries this year compared to two last year, four five-wicket hauls compared to one last year. Eleven fifties – all in all it was good.”

Yet he doesn’t go on to say they played two more fixtures in 2024.

After the Guyana Harpy Eagles game was washed out, this is how Furlonge saw it: “We didn’t get a single bonus point in that game.

“If you look at it, if we had beaten Guyana, we would have gained an extra 17 points and we would have won the title. Or even if we had played the game and it was drawn, we would have gotten eight or nine points, which would have put us second overall.”

Are we talking cricket here? Or is this just about having dreams and fantasies of results in first-class cricket?

The very same Guyana Harpy Eagles went on to win the title, although having their game washed out against the RF. It was the first game for both teams, and while Guyana were positive in their outlook and saw success, the RF never recovered.

So how can it be said that if (a big if) the RF had beaten Guyana they would have won the title? That’s nonsense. That’s like saying, “If we make more runs than you we’ll win the game.”

The coach’s excuses continued when he said the low-scoring innings against Hurricanes and Pride was because of a difficult wicket for the former and a lack of application from the batsmen for the latter.

I take this to mean that his batsmen were not equipped to bat on difficult pitches. Batsmen are supposed to practise long hours, working on their technique, not only to improve their batting on poor pitches, but also to be able to play an innings successfully on any type of pitch.

It must be in the mind of every first-class cricketer, whether batting, bowling or fielding, that they must perform at a high standard in their position to accomplish victory for the team. One or two players, showing great reliability in the execution of their duty, must include the best for their team and in this way, working together as a unit, support each other, for the impact of effective production.

The RF’s fault lay in the lack of consistency, plus a shortage of the fighting spirit required at this level, to win. Much of the time they seemed lethargic. They were going through the motions and a deficiency of enthusiasm was obvious.

To win any tournament, players have to be passionate in their outlook at all times, in order to be dynamic in approach with every ball bowled. Concentration is the key on the field, whether batting, bowling or fielding.

Every player in the game ought to be united against the opposition, in a way that all 11 would like to crush them. They must approach their batting with confidence, their bowling with exuberance and their fielding with an unflagging keenness.