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The passion is still alive in West Indies
© AFP
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It's been 54 days since I landed in Kingston, days spent in cricket grounds resembling a carnival setting, in hotels resembling home, in beaches resembling images on exotic postcards, and in departure lounges resembling anything between bus stations to seven-star hotels. As is always the case, sometimes I felt it was all happening too fast; sometimes I just wanted it to end then and there.
Visiting the West Indies fulfilled a lot of my childhood ambitions. As a 15-year-old night life usually involved staying awake late, tip-toeing onto the television room, muting the sound, and watching cricket from the Caribbean. The passion that was on show – the sight of people dancing in the stands, fans watching from trees, spectators constantly providing advice to the batsman – never ceased to fascinate.
Continue reading "Lasting memories"
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Wolmer's Boys' School
© Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
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A few minutes away from Sabina Park is Wolmer's Boys’ School, founded way back in 1729 and rich in cricketing tradition. Several schools around the world have produced Test cricketers but none might be able to match Wolmer in the wicketkeeping department. Six Wolmer alumni have been West Indian Test wicketkeepers. Take that.
It’s given West Indies their first-ever Test wicketkeeper, Karl Nunes, their first centurion in England, Ivan Barrow, a captain, Gerry Alexander, a battler, Jackie Hendriks, a legend, Jeffrey Dujon, and a promising star, Carlton Baugh. That makes 417 catches and 21 stumpings at Test level, along with 5447 handy runs. If one were to write a story of West Indian wicketkeeping, it’s tough to find a better setting.
Continue reading "The West Indian wicketkeeper factory"
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Football on the giant screen in Jamaica
© Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
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There was a moment just after the lunch break when it was difficult to gauge what was going on. Around the same time when Harbhajan Singh began the first over after the interval, Portugal and England were starting their penalty shoot-out. The giant screen, that was showing football till then, shifted to displaying the cricket score, and the spectators had to rely on a handful of television sets to follow the action in Gelsenkirchen. Dwayne Bravo probably wanted to watch the ending himself and promptly fell to Harbhajan soon after resumption. Postiga's goal was accompanied by a lot of cheer - most, it appeared, were rooting for Portugal - but they had to instantly hush it up with Bravo falling almost immediately. Such tensions.
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