Getting it right

Although at times they might seem of no importance, mistakes need to be corrected.

A release by the director of cricket at Cricket West Indies, Miles Bascombe, has said the West Indies Championship is entering its 60th year, and he commends the tournament for its significant contribution to the development of cricket in the region.

He believes the first tournament was held in 1965.

As a matter of fact, there was no tournament in 1965. The very first first-class competition involving only West Indian teams was in 1964, on an experimental basis, and carried no sponsorship.

There were just the four main historical teams in the first instance: British Guiana, Barbados, TT and Jamaica. The Leeward and Windward Islands were not yet included.

This tournament was the brainchild of Jeffrey Stollmeyer, the former West Indian cricketer, and the idea was welcomed by the West Indies Cricket Board. Stollmeyer’s idea was that WI cricket would not improve unless there was an annual first-class competition among the teams.

The WICB agreed, but saw the big problem as being unable to finance it. However, it managed to attract the Shell group of companies to sponsor future tournaments.

In 1965, the WICB thought it unwise to hold the brand-new tournament because of the visit of the Australian team, especially as the meeting was being labelled the world championship of cricket. That was so mainly because both teams had recently beaten England, India, New Zealand and Pakistan, the other Test-playing countries at the time. South Africa was one as well, but lived under a government that promoted apartheid, a political system that discriminated against black people and hence was ostracised.

The WICB recognised it couldn’t trust the logistics and the financing of both tournaments simultaneously. Small populations with diminutive economies and miniature grounds placed a block on that.

The Shell company graciously accepted the sponsorship from 1966, when there was no clash of cricket interests.

Interestingly, in 1968, because of the visit of the England team, the West Indies Cricket Championship was again shelved. Hence there were no tournaments in 1965 or 1968.

The Leeward and Windward Islands participated in 1966 together, under the banner of Combined Islands, and split the following year into separate entities, before combining once more from 1970-1981.

I agree with Bascombe that the championship is the bedrock of cricket development.

Back with a bang

Kraigg Brathwaite has proved he is a tremendous leader in spite of his shortcomings. He brought his team back against Pakistan to draw the two-match series in a hostile environment.

The pitches were prepared shamelessly to the advantage of the home team, for their spin bowlers to exploit. This revealed his considerable character, showing exceptional belief and amazing courage.

In similar circumstances a year ago the Pakistanis whipped the English Test team, using the same preparation method, managing to bamboozle batsmen with deliveries turning at 45-degree angles.

Although Pakistan were in the ascendancy for both West Indies matches, yet the crowd was thin for the games. Cricket fans want to witness a fair contest on pitches that make for attractive stroke play; wickets that make the captains, bowlers, batsmen and fielders think; where strategy is employed to dismiss a team, not once but twice; real cricket games that prove superiority by bowling out teams twice while one’s batsmen have to concentrate on scoring more runs than their opponent.

That is when a team proves they are the better team. It takes a maximum of five days, or four in a first-class game. Both matches in this Test series lasted just three days, with the capture of 80 wickets.

The West Indies skipper, even after going under in the first Test, and expecting the same pitch in the second, decided to bat first on winning the toss. That took courage.

For coach Andre Coley and Brathwaite to inspire their cricketers to bat on from a collapse at 38 for eight wickets to an end score of 160 was phenomenal cricket. It’s still unbelievable to me.

Before these Test matches got cracking, who would have believed that Romel Warrican’s performances could be so decisive as to lift his WI team in that second Test, so high that he completely demoralised the batting of the home team and brought pride to his side? The overconfident Pakistanis must have thought they had been hit by a bolt of lightning.

Congrats to the skipper and his team for never giving up.