Cricket nightmare

What impressed me most in the entire “lights out” spectacle in Guyana on October 1 were the interviews given at the conclusion of the game by Kieron Pollard, captain of Trinbago Knight Riders, and Rovman Powell, the skipper of Barbados Royals.

At the same time I found Andre Russell’s statement distasteful, disgusting and offensive. It’s shocking to me that an experienced player, especially one who should be setting a better example to the younger set, could give vent to his anger and behave in such a hostile manner. After all, it’s a game.

It pleased me to hear Pollard, in his post-match interview, accepting the game for how it turned out.

He talked of the danger it could have posed to resume play under insufficient light, in the event all three floodlights were not restored, saying if anyone had beeninjured for the sake of cricket, then, “It would have been hard felt by each and every one of us.”

He continued, “So again, at the end of the day, the ground staff and the persons in charge did what they had to do in order to get a game of cricket. And with the rules, we could have gotten a game in. And here we are now.”

I thought him quite gracious and felt very proud of him.

The Barbados Royals captain, Powell, said, “It was a case of getting lucky, considering.”

He admitted at one point, he and his team believed they were out of the competition when the three floodlights conked out.

“But once the lights came back, we knew it was our game to lose: five overs, 60 runs, not very difficult.”

He also said it was “unfortunate” for the Knight Riders to be “on the wrong side of luck.” Spoken like a true gentleman.

Nonetheless, to get back to the game itself and its circumstances…

Before any cricket game begins, the rules, or laws as they’re known in cricket, are expected to be noted by both teams, or, if not, queries would be forwarded to the match officials, or umpires as the case may be.

Hence there is no excuse for not knowing what they are. There are several interruptions that may happen to stop play completely, or prevent any chance of play. The rules, basic cricket sense and a number of other factors can come into play, making it a ticklish decision to continue.

Moreover, the umpires call the tune and the players have to dance to it. The umpires are there to ensure that the game runs smoothly, plus, to solve all disputes between the two teams. They have the final say.

Having said that; I don’t believe that in the CPL, after the initial stages when six teams have completed ten games each and a final four has emerged from that very tough competition, the rules should still cater for the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern system to separate them, in the event of any reason for the stoppage of play for such a time that the game cannot continue where it left off. I believe when the final four has been decided, then any blackout, storm, riot or whatever circumstances interrupt play to the effect of time lost, be it one hour or two or three, once that time limit is reached and the game abandoned, then whichever team is higher in the standings in the final four should be named the victor of that particular game. That’s the fairest decision. What happened to TKR on October 1 could happen to any team.Hence efforts must be made to have a fair system.

The four this year were two qualifiers in Guyana Amazon Warriors and S. Lucia Kings, plus two eliminators in Trinbago Knight Riders and Barbados Royals. The first three gained 14 points after the ten matches in the league, while the Royals scored only ten points. Scoring rate divided the first three teams that were tied on points.

In an abandoned match in the play-offs, after maybe a wait of an hour (or whatever time is considered fair), abandon the game, and the superior team with more points or a higher run-rate deserves to be named the winner of that contest.

Therefore, in the league, by all means have the DLS system to separate teams when they’re all battling for position – but after that fight to get into the first four, a fairer system is needed, and, with all due respect, I believe it is the one I have suggested.