April 28, 2007

Chaos at Kensington

Posted by Sambit Bal on 04/28/2007

6.10pm

	Adam Gilchrist and the weather dashed Sri Lanka's chances in the World Cup final © Getty Images

The final minutes of the match descended into chaos and confusion and Australia were finally announced champions in near darkness, after having celebrated their victory a couple of overs earlier.

Though no one, including the ICC media manager who was present in the press box, knows yet what exactly happened in the middle, it appears that the umpires offered the Sri Lankan batsmen the light in the 33rd over, which they accepted, sparking off wild celebrations among the Australians. The stumps were broken too, signaling the end of play. But the umpires, who had stayed on in the middle, conferred and interrupted the victory huddle and soon it became apparent that the play had not been called off.

Soon, the Sri Lankan batsmen emerged from the dressing-room and play resumed even thought the light faded further. It took a couple of nondescript overs for the Australians to finally seal victory and though they were deserving winners, there was an anti-climatic feel to the end. The Australians had been robbed off a feeling of spontaneity. But it was that sort of a World Cup.

6 pm - McGrath strikes

He has done it. It wasn’t off the last ball, and he might have an over left if Ponting decides to give him an eighth. It’s almost twilight now, cameras are flashing in the stands and the Aussies are singing Land Down Under in unison.

5.50 pm - Watch out for McGrath's last burst

The cup is all but Australia’s now and next over could be McGrath’s last in international cricket. He hasn’t taken a wicket so far, but he ended his Test career with a wicket and nothing should be ruled out.

5.40 pm - Light fades on Sri Lanka's run chase

A cool evening breeze is wafting across the ground and Chamara Silva has just crafted two fours off Bracken, but bulbs have already come on in the 3Ws stand, and the light is receding fast. Shaun Tait is rifling them in from the Joel Garner end, and there is no telling how long this can last. The Sri Lankans would not be appealing for bad light for sure.

5.25 pm - Gloomy skies worsen Sri Lanka's position

The rain’s gone, and the players are back on the field, but the overs have been slashed and the target revised. Sri Lanka, who needed about 10 per over before going off now need an almost hopeless 12. Aussie front-benchers are on their feet now, and the sound of drums has receded. Sri Lanka were behind already, and their supporters must now reflect on the injustice of nature: did the Australians need any additional assistance? Mahela Jayawardene has just been trapped lbw and Sri Lankan hopes are receding by the ball.

5.00 pm - It looks bleak for Sri Lanka

Alas, it is beginning to drizzle though it’s not heavy but persistent. Sri Lanka are way behind in the D/L calculations and it will be a tragedy if the match were to end that way. The last World Cup knock-out match between these two teams, in the semi-final in 2003, was decided by D/L, with Sri Lanka way behind the target. There is an hour left before the scheduled close of the play which can be extended by an half an hour. It all looks bleak at the moment. The umpires are staying on and saw-dust has been poured near the crease but the pitch is getting wet and the decision will have to be taken soon.

4.15 pm - Sangakkara mesmerises and gives hope to Lanka

In a day full of thrilling stroke-play, three of the most gorgeous were executed by Sangakkara, off successive balls, off that old miser Glenn McGrath. The first was a ballet-like shimmy down the wicket, a melodious executing of the lofted drive, not brutal, but a stroke played with a rhythmic flow; the next was outside off, and carved, between cover and extra cover with timing and precision; McGrath followed up with a short ball, and Sangakarra swivelled and pulled it swiftly behind midwicket. Between Gilchrist and Sangakkara, we have seen the full range already. Gilchrist, all bat-speed and power, Sangakkara all grace and wrist.The chant – Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka – is beginning to get deafening now.

4.00 pm - Fumbling Aussies

Are the Australian fielders feeling the nerves of the big stage? Not even half-way into the Sri Lankan chase and there have been four blips on the field. Two in Shaun Tait’s third over – first Brad Hogg failed to back up to a throw from Michael Clarke and conceded a overthrow and off the next ball, Shane Watson dropped Sangakkara's mistimed uppercut at third man. It was Hogg again, who fired in throw wide off McGrath at the bowler’s end and Sangakkara desperately short of the crease, and Michael Clarke let a ball slip through his hands at point to allow a single. The world champions crumbling? Hardly.

3.40 pm - Mixed sounds from the crowd

	Sri Lankan fans use drums and conches to cheer their side while Australian ones use their hands and mouths © AFP

3.20 pm - Tait's amazing run-up

The sun’s hiding again, and Nathan Bracken starts with a cool breeze blowing across. Upul Tharanga flashes the first ball over cover for four. The ground has been almost full today, but the empty seats are in the 3W's stand. They belong to the sponsors of this mega-tournament. Most of them Indian corporates, and many of them have decided to cut their loss. Shaun Tait serves up a crunching bouncer to Tharanga. It’s amazing how he generates such pace off a languid, almost halting run-up. The over ends with a loud but futile leg-before appeal.

3.00 pm - Give it up for the World Cup volunteers

	Sri Lanka were undone by Australia's power-hitting and looked hapless on the field © Getty Images

2.57 pm - Hapless Lanka

An absolute shocker that sums up Sri Lanka's performance on the field. Fernando, who has already bowled a no-ball and a wide in the final over of the innings, manages to fire one in at Michael Clarke's feet. Clarke barely manages to squeeze it out, and the ball loops back to Fernando off the ground. Andrew Symonds, meanwhile, has charged down the wicket and Fernando merely has to roll the ball back to the stumps to run him out. But he fumbles, trips and misses the stumps. The ball rolls down to mid off and the batsmen squeeze out a single. Sri Lanka have been run ragged by an awesome display of power-hitting.

2.50 pm - 300 in 38 overs?

A wicket at last for Lasith Malinga, and the first big roar goes up from the ROW (Rest of the World) fans. The ball was full and swinging and Watson went to sweep, Australia have promoted big-shot men ahead and Michael Hussey must be wondering what it might take for him to get a hit. Australia are unlikely to get to 300 now. But who knows?

	No stopping Gili at Barbados © Getty Images

2.10pm - Whose side are you on?

Australia vs The World, one banner in the East Stand reads. Which of course sums up the sentiments at the ground today. The Barmy Army are there, and it’s not hard to guess who they are supporting. I sat next to a Barbadian lady in the bus in the morning. Who was she backing, I asked? I needn’t have. She pointed to her T-shirt. It was Sri Lankan. “No more Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi”, she said. The Aussies have been at it since the match began. For the most, they have only gasps: a bump ball caught at cover, a high ball falling between the fielders, a mis-hit from Hayden, a couple of muffled appeals from Murali.... at this rate, Australia could keep in tact their record of scoring 300 every time they have batted first: 84 from nine overs. Eminently possible.

1.40pm - Gilchrist hurts Sri Lanka
Gilchrist brings up his first hundred in a World Cup final by lifting Malinga over his head for four. It is the fastest hundred in a World Cup final. He has been breathtakingly brutal, smoking fours and sixes almost at will. Hayden has joined the party too, hoisting Malinga for a straight six. They have now become the second most prolific opening pair in one-day cricket, beating Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, who have a stand named after them. Only Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly stand ahead of them, but this pair has delivered when it has mattered the most. In the last World Cup final, they put up 105 from 15 overs.

1.20pm - One almighty blast
The shot of the day, so far. The previous ball, Gilchrist has just blasted Fernando, who is back in firing line after Tillakaratne Dilshan was hit for two straight sixes, for a six over long off. Fernando keeps this one full, almost a yorker on leg stump, but Gilchrist’s bat has enough momentum to squeeze is past the bowler. It screams down to the boundary. Gilchrist’s brilliance is hustling Sri Lanka in to sloppiness. Wides and misfields are beginning to creep in. Hayden looks like he's batting on another planet, still edging.

1.05pm - Fernando's fatal drop?
Has Sri Lanka’s chance come and gone? Dilhara Fernando, who has been bowling round the wicket from the first ball after having been warned twice for transgressing in to the business area of the pitch in the semi-final against New Zealand, drops a caught and bowled chance from Gilchrist. It was hit firmly, but should have been taken. Gilchrist responds by hitting his next three balls for 4, 4, and 6. Fernando has now gone for 29 from three overs. Gilchrist has taken 23 off 13 balls. A couple of overs later, he brings up his third successive half-century in World Cup finals. Sri Lanka have spin from both ends now. Murali's doesn't like bowling to left handers. His third ball to Gilchrist was a doosra, and a wide.

	Adam Gilchrist might have had an average tournament but arrived on the big stage © Getty Images

12.50pm - Malinga 1 Hayden 0
Even bullies don’t like it hot. Matthew Hayden, who has spanked three hundreds in the tournament so far, has been kept honest by Lasith Malinga, who is one of the true wonders of cricket. He hasn’t gone full pelt so far, hitting only the mid-80s, but has been fast enough to keep Hayden pinned to his crease. From 15 balls from Malinga, Hayden has managed merely a single. Malinga’s first spell reads: 4-1-6-0.

12.25pm - Gilchrist sets the tone
Adam Gilchrist, who hasn’t set this World Cup afire, begins the offensive with a four and six in Vaas’s second over. The six is a typical Gilchrist effort: pick the length early, meet the ball on the up and hoist over long-on. It’s caught by an Australian fan in the front rows and he holds the ball up triumphantly. Cue for Kumar Sangakarra to move up to the stumps. It’s only the eighth ball in Vaas’s spell.

12:15pm - Match on
The match is on. Chaminda Vaas’s first ball is greeted with a cacophonous roar. He is on target. Aussie fans rise to their feet as Adam Gilchrist opens the scoring with single. So who will the shorter match suit more? Viv Richards, still majestic, still fit, and still magnetic, was around a while ago. What do you think will happen, he asked, before volunteering the answer: Australians might lose a few early wickets.

	Patience is a virtue © Getty Images

11.45am - An appropriate end?
Good news. The rain has stopped, the sun is beginning to break through and the covers are coming off. Andy Atkinson, ICC’s pitch consultant is out there in the middle supervising the operation and the Sri Lankans are out warming up. It is clear now that the final will be a truncated affair. But while we await an announcement, here’s a thought: is it perhaps not an appropriate end to a unfulfilling World Cup?

11.30am - Forget the match, what about the flights?
The rain is beginning to get worrying. It’s a stiff, constant stream now. There isn’t a trace of blue in the sky now, and a haze is developing around the ground. The wind from the south-east, which had been blowing the clouds away, has ceased. There is a stifling stillness around now.

The giant screen is playing highlights and a band is playing. But spectators are beginning to get restless. Those without umbrellas on the front rows are beginning to filter out and journalist have started speculating how many overs we might lose today. Some are getting worried about their flights if the match gets carried over to tomorrow.

	Andrew Miller sits alongside Angus Fraser in the media centre © Cricinfo Ltd

10.30am - Hitting the roof
The new media box at the Kensington Oval is among best in the world. It has all the facilities and a great view. And it’s open. But there has been a major problem. When the sun starts get a bit benevolent towards the afternoon. At about 3pm, laptops start burning, at 4pm, they melt.

Many journalists have been seen retreating to airconditioned confines of the media centre and couple of levels below. But there is another problem with that. You have watch the match on TV there. It’s the same as staying back in Mumbai, London or wherever.

The organisers have come up with a novel solution. They have erected, makeshift roofs over our head. Actually, roof is stretching it. It’s a thin piece of wood mounted on a shaky frame. It’s painted green. And it’s low to ensure it doesn’t block the view of chaps sitting in the row behind. It has already served a purpose today by protecting the laptops from the drizzle.

But thank god Joel Garner hasn’t taken to cricket reporting. Our very own Andrew Miller already has a bump on his head. That’s him in the hat in the photograph. Crouching next to him is the former England medium-pacer Angus Fraser, who is the chief cricket correspondent for the London based Independent.

	Australia batting but is that bad for Sri Lanka? © Getty Images

10.05am - Good toss to lose?
Australia have chosen to bat. That’s been their gameplan through the World Cup and they have the confidence to stick to it. The sun came out briefly. Now it’s gone behind again. In fact, it has begun to drizzle again. The covers are coming on. It’s a good toss to lose for Sri Lanka. The conditions in the morning will suit them.

The track they are using today is different from on the one West Indies played England. That was a belter. The rain has got heavier. It is no longer a drizzle. Did the toss come a few minutes too early for Australia?

10am - Unorthodoxy and mystery
It already feels like a final. It’s the one everyone wanted. Australia haven’t look like losing. Why, they haven’t looked like losing more than six wickets. But there is an air of expectation in the air. If any team can beat them it’s Sri Lanka. They have one thing that none of Australia’s opponents have had so far. They have unorthodoxy and mystery.

As South Africa demonstrated so abysmally, you can’t beat Australia at their own game. Sri Lanka will try to distract them. They have the skills and a joie de vivre the other teams have lacked. Only they can redeem this wretched World Cup.

	A rainy start to proceedings © Getty Images

The roads leading the Kensington Oval are choked. Bands are already playing. Fans are there from everywhere. Some have even come from the other parts of the Caribbean. A Hindi song is playing a local bar and two locals are dancing. I am puzzled. My colleague Rahul Bhattacharya,
who has spent in year in Guyana clears it for me: it is a Guyanese scene, he says. Bars are already open. And beer’s already flowing.

Yellow and green is everywhere. A large posse of Australian fans have just alighted from a cruise liner. The West Stand, the temporary one which will demolished after the World Cup, is sea of Australian colours. A huge roar goes up when it is announced that Ricky Ponting has won the toss. The Sri Lankan fans are hopelessly outnumbered. But needn’t worry.

Everyone else in the ground are backing them. They are the home team today.

9:40am - Hot and sticky
Woke up to a drizzle today. It would have been unimaginable last week when the sky matched the colour of the water and the sun shone as brightly as it does in the Australian summer in Melbourne. Today, it felt like London. But it rained here last morning too. Locals say it will not last. And it will get hot. It’s sticky already.

But will it affect the decision at toss? The Australians like to bat first. And they have scored more that 300 every time they have batted first in the World Cup. But the conditions are heavy and both teams have a left-arm swing bowler with the new ball. The pitch here was thought not conducive for Chaminda Vaas. But it might be different now.

April 26, 2007

The legacy of Boys' Town

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 04/26/2007

	Collie Smith (right) along with West Indies left-arm spinner Alf Valentine © Locksley Comrie

O'Neil Gordon Smith, Collie to those that knew and loved him, has been dead nearly 50 years yet you wouldn't know it if you listened to Locksley Comrie talk about him. Comrie moved to one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Jamaica when he was six years old, though back then Trenchtown wasn't the byword for gang violence that it has become today. He grew up idolising Collie, and like his idol, he was head boy at the school in Boys' Town. In later years, he headed Jamaica's football association, and was also president of his neighbourhood club, the same institution that once boasted of players like Collie and Sir Frank Worrell.

Comrie doesn't go back to the area as much as he'd like these days. When he does, it's often for the wrong reasons. "A lot of my old friends have been killed in the area," he tells you. "Earlier today, I was watching a football game on TV, and you could see a helicopter circling overhead. There's a fear of violence, and that violence is a fact of life in Trenchtown now. Growing up, it was never like that. Boys’ Town was one of the most successful institutions in the Caribbean, and dare I say it, the most unique in the world."

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April 19, 2007

Putting a face to a voice

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 04/19/2007

	Joseph 'Reds' Perriera © Cricinfo

In this age of high-speed internet, teleconferences and live streaming, it's not that difficult to put a face to words. There are rarely any 'faceless' voices. Yet, when some of us were growing up and being indoctrinated into the faith of our fathers, voices were all we had to follow the cricket in faraway lands like the West Indies and Australia.

The ABC's Jim Maxwell was always distinctive, the harbinger of cheery Ashes news after the nightmares of the mid-1980s, and there was hardly a cricket fan around who didn't recognise the smooth tone and Caribbean lilt that has been Tony Cozier's stock-in-trade for half a century.

All those years ago, the man who played Rae to his Stollmeyer was Joseph 'Reds' Perriera, a Guyanese who now lives in St Lucia. Reds watched his first Test matches against India in 1953, and remembers the visitors being "a very good fielding side". "[Chandrasekhar] Gadkari was outstanding, and there was also the batting of [Vijay] Hazare and ML Apte."

The Indian connection doesn't end there. Nearly two decades later, he went on air for the first time when Ajit Wadekar's side triumphed against the odds in 1971. "I watched [Sir Len] Hutton, you know, and I can tell you that Sunny [Gavaskar] was in that class as a batsman. [Dilip] Sardesai had an excellent tour as well."

We chat under an unrelenting sun in the press box at the Kensington Oval, a place filled with memories for someone whose association with West Indies cricket goes back to the days of the three Ws, who have the main stand named after them. "I was lucky to watch a little of them," says Reds. "[Frank] Worrell was all finesse and elegance, and he had an extra string to his bow with his medium-pace bowling. He was also by far our most astute captain, a magnificent leader of men.

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Hit for Six

Posted by Sambit Bal on 04/19/2007

	Poster of a Blue Waters film 'Hit for a six' © Cricinfo

Last night, I achieved the dubious distinction of walking the red carpet at the international premiere of a feature film in Bermuda shorts, a situation I tried to explain as an attempt to achieve parity with the superior sex by showing a bit of skin. There was no rush of cameras, though, and I slunk off to the far corner to nurse my pineapple juice.

Truth be told, I made a fool of myself. It is no excuse that I thought it was a media-only preview. I didn’t read the invite.

And let me get a bit real too. It was the premiere of a feature film alright, though the ‘international’ part is overstating a bit. The occasion, though, was special: the premiere of Barbados’s first full-length feature film. And it was hardly a surprise that it was on cricket and titled Hit for Six!

The Barbados film industry is only four years old and it had, till last night, to its credit three feature films, all of which were shot in video format on budgets of less than US $500,000. The country has only two proper theatres and the premiere was being held at Olympus Theatre, the country’s sole multiplex with six screens.

Hit for Six was thus a breakthrough for it was filmed on celluloid and cost US $770,000. Written, directed and produced by Alison Saunders-Franklyn, a Barbadian/Trinidadian who has acquired a reputation in corporate and television programming, the film assembled local talents from stage and amateurs.

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April 17, 2007

Barbados breathes cricket

Posted by Sambit Bal on 04/17/2007

'With a bat in hand, the Flying Fish, the national symbol of Barbados welcomes the visitor from every lamppost' © Cricinfo

A flashing glimpse of aqua blue waters from the plane was enough to horrify me about my near folly. West Indies has tugged at my heartstrings ever since I became a cricket fan; England is cricket's place of birth and India is now its financial capital, but for me West Indies remains the game's spiritual home. Despite the misery of the national team, it conjures up of images of cricket played for the right reasons: for enjoyment. I had never been here before, and it's a moment I had waited for all my life.

Yet I very nearly didn't come. Numbed by death, turned off by the lack of atmosphere and spirit and discouraged by the quality of cricket, I contemplated saving my West Indian tryst for a worthier occasion. And two postponements later, I boarded the flight still wondering if it was worth the effort.

A stop-over in London didn't help. The World Cup is almost a non-event there even though England could still make it to final. I had to wade through 19 pages of the sports section of a Sunday broadsheet ... football of all kinds, FA Cup, Barclays Premiership, Champions League, Coca-Cola Championship, rugby union, horse racing, motor racing ... before encountering the first mention of cricket. In tabloids, it was merely a footnote, and the only question the gentleman at the Heathrow immigration asked me was if I was going find out who killed Bob Woolmer.

But touching down on Barbados meant connecting with cricket once again. The airport is a sprawling and single-storey building with an air of informal distinctiveness about it. It has a canopy-like roof, and the sunlight streams through translucent fibre sheets. From the roof hangs huge vertical hoardings of Brian Lara promoting bmobile, the cellular service of Cable & Wireless, one of the sponsors of the World Cup, and in the arrival lounge two huge hoardings make you instantly aware of the cricketing heritage of Barbados. One features Worrell, Walcott, Weekes and Sobers, the other Greenidge, Haynes, Marshall and Garner. That Hall and Griffith don't find a space is a clear sign of being spoilt by the riches. Later in the evening, I would spot David Murray, rated by many the best wicketkeeper West Indies ever produced, but now a drinking wreck, on a bar stool at the St Lawrence Gap, a busy, bustling street lined with bars and restaurants which turns in to one big party after sundown.

Barbados loves cricket lovers, one message reads © Cricinfo

Spread over 166 square miles, about the same as Mumbai but with a population of 264,000 as opposed to Mumbai's 18 million, Barbados is among the smaller nations in the Caribbean, but easily the most prosperous. The British influence is evident in the architecture of the buildings around the city centre, but mostly it is lined with asbestos-roofed single-single storey houses spread along the coasts. Strangers smile at you and give you the thumbs up on the streets, cabbies chat away like long-lost friends, and street-side bars and pubs resonate with Reggae and Calypso.

You can feel cricket everywhere. There are roundabouts named after cricketers, there is a university ground named after the 3Ws. It's a picturesque ground where some warm-up matches were played. And the country is dressed up for the World Cup. With a bat in hand, the Flying Fish, the national symbol of Barbados and remarkable specimen that can glide through the air up to 100 yards at 30 km per hour, welcomes the visitor from every lamp post. Barbados loves cricket lovers, one message reads, A big Bajan welcome to all, reads another. Cricket is on the radio in cars, on television in restaurants, and visitors are everywhere, wearing their national colours, drinking, milling and making merry. Irish fans are everywhere, but so are Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Indians.

It's almost evening by the time I get to the ground. The accreditation centre has just closed. So I can't get in to ground. But I hang around to soak in the atmosphere. Ireland have just beaten Bangladesh. Burgers and hot dogs are selling briskly and a local band is playing on a podium nearby. A young couple join in for an impromptu dance and are cheered lustily.

I bump into a group of Indian fans coming out of Kensington Oval. This was the match they had booked their journey for. It was meant to be India v Pakistan. They are still wearing the Indian team shirt. It's like wearing their hurt. They are from London. It has cost them a fortune to spend a month in the West Indies. "Tell the Indian cricket team this," one of them tells me, "we don't trust them any more. The next time, we will wait before we book our tickets." They are not alone.

But they trot off to the jetty to catch a boat to Grenada where Sri Lanka play Australia. They are not giving up on cricket yet. That's the way it should be.

April 15, 2007

Rendezvous with a rebel

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 04/15/2007

	Emmerson Trotman in his pomp © Getty Images

Gulam Bodi was born in India, but has played all his cricket in South Africa. Most hadn’t heard of him until Kevin Pietersen teed off against the selection policies that forced him out of KwaZulu-Natal, and few would be aware that Bodi too has left Durban, to play for the powerful Titans franchise at Centurion. A left-hand batsman who also bowls a decent chinaman, Bodi is in Barbados just to watch the final stages and cheer his compatriots on. Despite recent evidence to the contrary, he remains confident that South Africa can beat Australia and make the final.

Large fish steaks washed down with the local Banks, we head to De Oval Cricket Entertainment Village for Reggae Explosion. It’s 70 Barbadian dollars to get in and we’re more than a little disappointed at the some of the music, which is definitely closer to the hip-hop genre than anything that Bob Marley or Peter Tosh might have come up with.

As Baby Cham, Lust and Sanchez entertain a slowly building crowd, Craig Marais – who works for the South African Broadcasting Corporation – and I decide to have a look around. That’s when we bump into a fairly short and stocky man, dressed in loose white shirt and colourful orange trousers. Emmerson Trotman is nursing a beer and swaying to the tune being belted out from the stage. Craig, who played first-class cricket in South Africa, knows him well, having been coached by him in Cape Town.

Nearly a quarter-century on, the rebel tour to South Africaremains a hugely controversial subject in these islands. Trotman was one of those in a squad captained by Lawrence ‘Yagga’ Rowe, an opening batsman and wicketkeeper who could also bowl a bit. He has lived the last 31 years in the Netherlands, and spent most winters coaching in South Africa. Mark Boucher was “one of my East London boys,” he tells you with real pride.

Predictably though, much of the conversation centres around the rebels and how good they were. Franklyn Stephenson was an allrounder of genuine quality, as was Collis King, and though Rowe was past his best, the team still had Alvin Kallicharran. Many of the players were ostracised on their return to the islands, and several went on to make a living from coaching in South Africa.

Trotman went on to coach the Netherlands for eight years until 2004, leading them to a ICC Trophy, but he’s at his most voluble when talking about the coaching work done by the likes of Malcolm Marshall [at Natal],Eldine Baptiste and Stephenson. “I wonder how much West Indies cricket lost out with you guys helping increase the standard of the game in South Africa,” says Craig, and Trotman nods slowly.

He will apply for the job of coaching West Indies, but has little hope of getting it. It remains one of sport’s great paradoxes that a region that has given cricket so many of its all-time greats has seldom felt compelled to use their expertise to further the game in the Caribbean.

Later, as we move on to an open-air bar in the St Lawrence Gap, Trotman points to a corner stool right next to the bar. “He comes and sits there all the time,” he says, talking about David Murray. Craig says that there are many in South Africa who think Murray was the best wicketkeeper that they ever watched, even better than Ray Jennings who also played in the matches against the West Indian rebels. These days, he’s an empty shell of a man, a cautionary tale of drug and alcohol abuse, but those that knew him when the future was bright still wonder what might have been.

As for Trotman, he’s only in Barbados for a three-week holiday, a time to catch up with the family and friends that he left behind half a life ago. “Did the re bel tour affect the way people looked at him in Barbados?” He smiles, shakes his head, and says, “No man.” “But you never came back here, did you?” A shadow of sadness flashes across his face before he answers. “No, man. I never did.”

April 11, 2007

The world's best water massage

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 04/11/2007

	The Marshall Rapids in Guyana mark the start of the Amazonian basin of South America © Dileep Premachandran

For much of the year, you can find him either in Georgetown or at his camp near the Marshall Rapids, the falls that mark the start of the Amazonian basin. It is well off the beaten track, and getting there involves a long boat ride and a half-hour trek through the rainforest where you can see jaguar paw-marks among other things.

We start from Georgetown early in the morning, guided by Niranjan Pradeep - "Call me Chico" - who's been on this particular beat for 19 years. After a short trip by bus and a speed-boat ride on the massive Essequibo - the third largest river in South America - we stop for breakfast at Shanklands. "Eat well, the jaguars will be hungry," Chico says, not making everyone laugh. Fortified by cups of coffee and tea, we set off across the water to Bartica, a small town sustained by miners who go off for long periods into the interior.

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April 7, 2007

Cricket with the legends and cavorting Caribbean style

Posted by Andrew Miller on 04/07/2007

	'This was Caribbean cricket, fantasy style, with the tide washing in every over or so to smooth down the wicket .... and a crowd of thousands huddled round the action or parked in the shallows at midwicket'. © Getty Images

What do cricket writers do when there's no cricket to watch? Play cricket of course! For two days in Antigua, as the World Cup merry-go-round paused for breath, that was how the international media contingent passed their time, recharging their batteries by testing their distinctly average skills in a variety of typically Caribbean scenarios. It might be remiss to point out, but it would be far from inaccurate, that more of the region's unique flavour has been on display in these past 48 hours than has been permitted to shine through in a month of ICC-sanctioned shenanigans.

Everything about the Caribbean cricket experience owes itself to the unique accessibility of the players, men who have stepped off the field and straight back into the bosom of the culture that created them; everything about the ICC cricket experience, on the other hand, has been designed to erect barriers between them and us - massive great exclusion zones outside all of the grounds, colour-coded security clearance levels and extensive (excessive) checks at the entrances to the stadia. It wasn't always thus, and maybe it need not be again. Because the men who made the game great in these islands are as aghast at what has unfolded as the rest of us.

"We've had too many restrictions placed on us as Caribbean people," said the greatest of all Antiguans, Sir Vivian Richards, as the media gathered to take part in a six-hitting competition organised by one of the tournament's sponsors, Johnnie Walker. "We are unique people. We are different from Europeans and South Africans and Australians. We are different in terms of our living style and our vibrant way of life. I just believe that someone has held us by the throat and said 'no, I don't want you to shout anymore'."

Richards made his declaration at the Stanford Ground next to VC Bird Airport, an opulent and extraordinarily beautiful private ground fit to rival that of Nicky Oppenheimer or the Duke of Norfolk. The lush manicured bowling green of an outfield may be somewhat at odds with that traditional Caribbean experience, but when last year this ground was Antigua's venue for the Stanford 2020 competition, the stands teemed as the imaginations of the local people were captured as emphatically as the World Cup has managed to alienate them again.

I arrived early for the event, and instantly found myself dumping my laptop at the boundary's edge as a towering heave swirled towards me from a distant fellow in a maroon cap. Naturally I grassed the chance, leaving a sizeable divot in the pitch as I went down like the proverbial, but undeterred I held my ground for further offerings, eventually calling it quits with a dismal tally of one catch out of five, not to mention several dozen hits that sailed clean over my head.

The assailant, as I'd by now worked out, was Kenny Benjamin, who'd been happily roped in to spend his afternoon swinging the willow and working the bowling machine that would soon be feeding us media types nice loopy half-volleys to punt over the infield. As we milled around in the middle with a couple of his mates - Curtly Ambrose and Richie Richardson to be precise - the atmosphere could hardly have been less corporate or more welcoming. Inevitably, talk turned to the tournament of which these men have been made a very peripheral part, and the verdict was unanimous. "It's been a joke, man", was one of the most succinct appraisals.

In due course, it was time for the journalists to sign our legal waivers and don our pads (including, tediously, a helmet), and swing the bat for charity. Richards, with Ambrose keeping wicket, demonstrated how it should be done by clunking three clean cover-drives and a brace of clips off the toes; Cricinfo fared less well - two straight driven fours and a couple of miscues over the covers that rolled backwards after pitching. Still, a tally of US$200 was worse than a slap in the face with an Ambrose bouncer.

Twenty-four hours later, and we cricket loons were back for more punishment, this time down on the beach at a bar called Sun Haven, for a match between the Antiguan Legends and the assembled international media. This was Caribbean cricket, fantasy style, with the tide washing in every over or so to smooth down the wicket, a rabid chattering DJ calling the play in a boisterous faux-English accent in between bursts of Soca music, and a crowd of thousands (well, more than Bangladesh v New Zealand at any rate) huddled round the action or parked in the shallows at midwicket.

Continue reading "Cricket with the legends and cavorting Caribbean style"

April 3, 2007

Filming a fairy tale run

Posted by Rahul Bhattacharya on 04/03/2007

	Niall O'Brien: at the head of a spirited Irish World Cup campaign © AFP

By now you’ve heard the one about the Irish farmer who had to skip lambing season to open the bowling in the Super Eights of the cricket World Cup. Or, I’m sure, the one about the Irish teacher who needed permission from the education board because he had to roll some offbreaks in the Super Eights of the cricket World Cup. Stop me, though, if you’ve heard the one about the film-maker who, broke, was a few hours away from returning home when an Irish company put up some funds for him to stay another month to continue tracking the team in the Super Eights of the cricket World Cup.

It was in Sydney a year-and-a-half ago that Paul Davey saw Niall O’Brien, one of the heroes of Ireland’s current campaign, jogging in a park. “He had an Irish cricket jersey on. I went up I told him ‘I didn’t know Ireland had a cricket team’. He said, ‘We do, and we’re in the World Cup.’”

Davey, Irish, was then making short films in Australia, and this was the story he knew he wanted to do. He went back home, he watched Ireland play, he approached the Irish Cricket Union, told them he’d fund himself the entire project and all he wanted was access.

He was given it, full and free, and all through the tournament Davey has had an intimate view of one of the remarkable stories in World Cup history. He forged close friendships with the players, he sat with them in buses and hotels and bars, captured the moments of their greatest exultation and was by their side when they spoke of their insecurities. The opening bowler Dave Langford-Smith would refuse to come on camera because of his stammer. One night after a couple of beers he spoke so fluently that he could then barely be dragged off camera in the days after.

Within the first week the enormity, the range, of this thing had hit home. Having defeated Pakistan on an unforgettable day, the team left Kingston for Ocho Rios on the North Coast. It was a night of the grandest celebration, Irish style. Happy, hung-over, they returned the next morning to their Kingston team-hotel to the death of Bob Woolmer. “It was a real shock, a real downer, it all just seemed so unbelievable.”

Davey found in the story of the Irish cricket team greater resonances. A few days after they had qualified for the Super Eights the main Catholic and Protestant political parties home signed a historic power-sharing agreement. The team itself, leaving aside the foreigners, was six to five Catholic and Protestant. Davey was able to record emotional responses from them.

The story of non-Irish players itself was a reflection of a broader pattern. “The economy has been booming over the last 5-10 years, there has been some peace, it’s not seen as a place where bombs are going off all the time. For the first time we’ve had a lot of immigrants coming in. Ireland is changing very fast.”

Staying on, now, though Davey will be faced with another challenge: hundreds of hours more of footage to be compressed into a 52-minute film. Write him at paul.davey@erskinesolutions.com.au for details.

The abandoned home of Antiguan cricket

Posted by Andrew Miller on 04/03/2007

	The view of the old press box from the Richie Richardson stand © Andrew Miller

It's been almost ten months since the Antigua Recreation Ground hosted its last Test match. On June 6 last year, Fidel Edwards clung on for a draw against a striving Indian attack, and within hours the strains of Chickie's Disco had echoed for one last time through the streets of St John's, and the gates were padlocked on 25 years of history.

The vibrancy of that final send-off was a testament to the beloved status of "The ARG" - home of Antiguan cricket since time immemorial, and a Test venue since 1981. Perched in the heart of the capital, and wrapped in a higgedly piggedly maze of walls, gates and wooden fencing, it was a venue that, for all its shabbiness, still drew the curious to investigate what lay within.

This was truly a ground where vice and virtue met as equals. On the one side looms the wooden spire of St John's cathedral, ravaged by the elements but still retaining a certain magnificence; on the other lurks the barbed wire and ramparts of the island's prison, whose inmates used to double as the ARG's groundstaff -for many years under the watchful eye of Malcolm Richards, father of Sir Viv.

Now the ground is deserted, a husk of a bygone era left to rot even as the world's eye is cast across the Caribbean. For all the bold talk of regenerating cricket in the region, if the Antiguan experience is to be believed, the crass combination of greed and neglect has damaged the game beyond repair.

The ARG still has its uses. Before the World Cup it was the venue of a tri-series tournament between Bangladesh, Bermuda and Canada, and it will still be used when St Kitts, Nevis or the Leeward Islands come to play. But its days as an international venue are over, even though on Sunday, when the nets at Antigua's new ground were still too damp to use, it was ready to step in and provide practice facilities for the Bangladeshis.

Continue reading "The abandoned home of Antiguan cricket"

April 1, 2007

That's a bit more like it

Posted by Rahul Bhattacharya on 04/01/2007

	Finally, some Caribbean spirit turned up in Guyana...shame West Indies didn't © AFP

It has the World Cup CEO, Chris Dehring in a butler suit, presenting on a platter the CWC 2007: “Exactly how would you like it Sir…Not spicy… Not exuberant … Not…???” The man at the table is Malcolm Speed, wearing a Rasta hat with dreads, fish and plantain chips on the table before him, a bongo with Rally Roun’ De West Indies sitting beside him. “Oh! Lighten up will you, Chris ‘ol chap…?”

Continue reading "That's a bit more like it"

Video killed the radio star

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 04/01/2007

No, The Buggles weren’t in town, but strange things were happening
on Guyana’s airwaves as I drove to the stadium. Stephen, my driver who was
in his early 20s, had switched on the radio almost as soon as I got in,
and much of our conversation centred about what West Indies needed to do
to stay alive in the competition. Even as Colin Croft and friends nattered
on about the conditions, Stephen fretted about the toss. The sky above was
slate-grey and the sun couldn’t be glimpsed. “You don’t want to be facing
dat Malinga in dem conditions, man,” he told me, tapping on the steering
wheel with his knuckles as the commentary team built up to the toss.

His anxiety was palpable. “Dat Daren Powell be de only man bowlin’ well,”
he told me. “He got good pace. We have a guy like Malinga … Fidel Edwards,
but he no have the accuracy.” I recalled the press conference on Saturday
and the searching questions that Croft had asked Brian Lara about the
tactics and team composition against New Zealand, criticism that had been
echoed by Michael Holding. What did Stephen think of Lara, and the former
greats slating him?

Caught between two stools, Stephen chose to do the splits. “Croft from
here [Guyana], man,” he said quietly, “but Lara great player. If he mek
runs, we win.” As we talked, the expert voices floating through the car
speakers engaged in analysis of their own. Croft isn’t an easy man to
silence, but a few seconds later, the station announcer managed to do just
that.

With a serious-sounding voice, he spoke of how the cricket talk was
“light-hearted chat” before the game began in half an hour. He then went
on to say that they were going back to the original programming, the
Mahakali religious group and their chants. The toss? Clearly not as
important as some bhajans about Hanuman.

Stephen swore out loud, and I felt like accompanying him. The stadium was
in sight, but now I wouldn’t know what had happened at the toss till I’d
walked through the security checks and into the media enclosure. As for my
driver, he’d have to fret and fume for half an hour before the religious
chants that he didn’t know or care for gave way to the highpoint of his
day. Karl Marx spoke of religion being the masses’ opium at a time when
organised sport was a distant dream. Had he been alive today, with a
once-great cricketing entity’s pride at stake, he might have revised his
views.

March 31, 2007

Indian fans miss out after expensive exit

Posted by Andrew Miller on 03/31/2007

	The sign says it all for an Indian supporter © Getty Images

What's worse than travelling 7000 miles to watch a match for which your team has failed to qualify? Answer: Travelling 7000 miles to watch the grass grow for five hours on a sodden outfield, in a match for which your team has failed to qualify.

That was the fate that befell several hundred Indian spectators at Antigua today. They had booked in anticipation of watching their team take on Australia in a pivotal Super Eights showdown. Instead it was the groundstaff versus the elements in the biggest mismatch of the tournament to date.

"We've flown 36 hours to get here, and the delay is not acceptable," Sudhil, one of a party of 50-odd ex-pats living and working in Dubai, said. "We're Indian supporters and we're absolutely disappointed. We are cheering the Australians because we have no other choice.”

Continue reading "Indian fans miss out after expensive exit"

Why Antigua is just not ready

Posted by Andrew Miller on 03/31/2007

	The Sir Vivian Richards Stadium is a fine work of architecture but on all the sides of the ground lie uncompleted construction work © Andrew Miller

No-one seems to care that the ship is sinking, and that is unbelievably sad. On Wednesday, Brian Lara expressed his disappointment at the lack of local support; by Thursday, he seemed to have taken matters into his own hands by marshalling a West Indian performance of such staggering indifference, it might as well have been a V-sign to the few fans who made it to the ground. By Saturday, for the want of a viable supersopper, an intriguing match-up between
Australia and Bangladesh was reduced to yet another farce.

Continue reading "Why Antigua is just not ready"

March 30, 2007

Greatness has no parochial boundaries

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 03/30/2007

	Sir Frank Worrell, a Barbadian by birth, was included alongside Jamaican legends on the Wall of Honour © Getty Images

After seeing Jamaica's Wall of Honour, I had wondered why Sir Frank Worrell, a Barbadian by birth, was included alongside Jamaican legends like Michael Holding, Courtney Walsh and Lawrence Rowe . The answer was provided by Amanda Lynch-Foster, who writes for The Nation in Barbados.

She informed me that Worrell had lived in Jamaica for a number of years after leaving Barbados in the 1950s on account of it being too race and class-conscious. Apart from being a senator in Jamaica, Worrell was also instrumental in establishing the region's second great uniting factor, the University of the West Indies. According to Lynch-Foster, who studied on the Mona campus in Kingston herself, Worrell was even hall warden at Irvine Hall on the campus.

As for his cricket, he played for illustrious clubs like Kensington before going to Boys Town in 1960. To go from princes to paupers would have struck most as odd, especially given that Boys Town were based in the notorious Trench Town area where Bob Marley and the Wailers put down their musical roots.

Continue reading "Greatness has no parochial boundaries"

'The balata sting like rass bai'

Posted by Rahul Bhattacharya on 03/30/2007

‘Old talk’ with an elderly family friend, because Debita Harripersaud is fond of that kind of natter, was the spur to make the product which launched a great Guyanese nostalgia. The images evoked are of the innocence of the countryside and of playing, of boys young and old lashing with coconut fronds balls made from balata.

Having grown up in a cricket-mad family, Harripersaud, a physiotherapist who sometimes works with the Guyanese team, felt it fitting to conceive a tribute to the time and ethos during the World Cup. Decades after the bleeding of balata – the sap of the Bulletwood tree – has tapered off from a large-scale activity to a tiny crafts industry for souvenir items, she commissioned 200 special edition balata balls to be handmade by the Makushi tribe of the Guyanese interior.

These have autographed by the three of the four living legends of Guyanese cricket: Rohan Kanhai, the master batsman, Clive Lloyd, the supreme captain, and Lance Gibbs, the finest spinner in West Indian history (Roy Fredericks, the fourth, died at 57 seven years ago).

Continue reading "'The balata sting like rass bai'"

March 29, 2007

Hanging out in The Blue Iguana

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 03/29/2007

By the time we exit the press box after an ultimately thrilling first game
at Guyana's new stadium, it's almost nine. Time enough to head home for a
quick bite and a shower before going to The Blue Iguana, a spacious
pub where a five-year-old El Dorado rum, mixed with coconut water, costs
less than 200 Guyanese dollars (1 US$) and it also has a number of
worse-for-wear pool tables to choose from.

There's also the music, chutney and dance-hall hits blaring from the
speakers. And as we settle down at the bar, one of the first persons I see
is Gareth Flusk, who played for Easterns and Transvaal before switching to
doing commentary for the South African Broadcasting Corporation. We'd met
a few months earlier in South Africa, and we laugh about his T-shirt which
makes no secret of his Johannesburg loyalties. "Cape Town has mountains,
we have taste," it says.

I'm more curious about his time at Easterns now that I've come across
Adrian Birrell, the Ireland coach. Birrell spent 16 years in the Eastern Cape as player and
coach before journeying to Ireland seven years ago. Gareth played under
him before he was succeeded by Kepler Wessels, and has nothing but good
things to say about a man who has worked wonders with the Irish.

"He's a very professional, dedicated sort," he tells me. "Loves his job,
and gets on with it without any fuss. He was great to work with." It
tallies with my own impression of a man who comes running back to complete
an interview after he'd had to leave in a hurry for a team meeting. And
unlike some coaches who bask in the public gaze, Birrell is most happy in
the background, letting Trent Johnston and his boys bask in the glory of
what they've achieved.

Continue reading "Hanging out in The Blue Iguana"

Rhodes redux

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 03/29/2007

	People went to watch Jonty Rhodes just for his fielding © Getty Images

We scampered over in time for the start of Pakistan's run chase, and there were no prizes for guessing which team had the support of the majority crammed into the poky little room. Having just come back into the international fold, South Africa were suddenly everyone's second team, and a whole generation of young people was trying to field like Jonty Rhodes. The results, if the sprains, cuts and bandages were anything to go by, weren't always favourable.

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March 27, 2007

Guyana's giant mushroom

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 03/27/2007

	The one thing you don't want to hear when you arrive at a venue on the eve of a game is construction noises, the sound of cement mixers and power-drills © Getty Images

The Guyana National Stadium at Providence is about a half-hour ride from the centre of Georgetown, and it springs up over the horizon suddenly, a bit like a mushroom emerging from the earth. The Buddy's International Hotel, where many of the media are staying, is right next door, and those with a particularly fanciful imagination might even compare the two constructions to two UFOs that have landed in the middle of nowhere.

The one thing you don't want to hear when you arrive at a venue on the eve of a game is construction noises, the sound of cement mixers and power-drills, but the recent rain has meant that work on the stadium isn't quite complete. It's a situation that horrifies some, but for those of us from countries where the chalta-hai (It happens) approach is
commonplace, it's hardly an eye-opener.

The one thing you can say is that it's a beautiful ground, with a lush green outfield and three magnificent stands. But the prettiest part of it is undoubted the grassy mound, perhaps modelled on the old Hill in Sydney and the similar patch of grass at Adelaide. For those looking to party, it will undoubtedly be the place to be, especially if the sun comes out and the beer starts to flow.

Continue reading "Guyana's giant mushroom"

The flight of a lifetime

Posted by Andrew Miller on 03/27/2007

	An unexpectedly bird's eye view of Antigua. The bright lights in the centre of the picture are the Sir Vivian Richards stadium © Andrew Miller

A lot of your life on tour is spent at airports. A lot more of it if you happen to be in the West Indies. It's not so much that they are inefficient in the Caribbean, it's just … well, where's the hurry? If it takes 90 minutes to check in your bags, well, that's no problem, 30 minutes per customer is pretty good when you think about it. And if your flight doesn't leave for a good hour after the scheduled departure time, you can but kick back and relax, and accept that that was nothing more than a basis for negotiation anyway. As for my baggage, it hasn't yet gone missing, although I'm assured that's only a matter of time.

Having said all that, however, I don't believe I'll ever experience a flight quite like the one I took last evening. It lasted barely half an hour but it'll live with me for a lifetime. And that, I suppose, is what it's all about out here. If you take the rough with the smooth and the mundane with the extraordinary, you'll end up with an enriching experience one way or the other.

It's fair to say that my last few hours in St Kitts had been ever so slightly tedious. It's a pretty sleepy airport at the very best of times, and 8 o'clock in the evening on a Monday night certainly isn't the best of times. Everything was shut, including the brain of the girl behind the LIAT check-in desk, and despite arriving alarmingly early by my usual standards, I was soon shunted to the back of the queue when it transpired I hadn't paid my Airport Facilities Tax: US$30 for the right to perch for an hour on an unspectacular plastic seat.

Continue reading "The flight of a lifetime"

Leaving quaint and quirky Basseterre

Posted by Andrew Miller on 03/27/2007

	The church in Basseterre. An ad-hoc cricket ground © Getty Images

This in itself was not in fact unusual; the same happens in these parts every Sunday, as trading ceases and everyone heads home to their families. But the suddenness of the silence was unnerving. On Saturday the carnival had finally reached full steam, with a decent (if not packed) crowd turning out to watch the marquee event, Australia v South Africa, and the same number and more tumbling down to the beach bars of Frigate Bay soon afterwards. Now, they had packed up and gone home. The legacy of St Kitts' World Cup experience starts now.

Continue reading "Leaving quaint and quirky Basseterre "

March 26, 2007

Treasure Islands

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 03/26/2007

	Clive Lloyd, Guyana's most succesful cricketer, brought the World Cup home to the West ndies in 1975 and 1979 © The Cricketer International

I leave Kingston at dawn on March 25, a hugely important day in the nation’s history. Exactly 200 years earlier, the British parliament in London had passed a law abolishing slave trade in the empire. Those who have watched Amistad and read books on the slavers will perhaps be aware that over 20 million were transported from Africa to the Americas, often in harrowing conditions. Though it would be another three decades before the slaves in Jamaica were granted their freedom, it’s nevertheless a red-letter day for a small island that gave the world icons of black consciousness like Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.

On one of the four flights that I take to get to Guyana, the in-flight magazine has an interesting article on Olaudah Equiano, the first “slave novelist”. The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings was published in London in 1789, and was for two centuries regarded as one of the definitive works on the slave trade. It traced Olaudah’s life from his birth in Nigeria to his transformation as an English gentleman, via the Caribbean, Virginia and even participation in the Seven Years War.

Though of a fantastical nature, it was an iconic work, and it was only less than a decade ago that its veracity was doubted. Professor Vincent Carretta published a book that picked out anomalies in Olaudah’s writing before attempting to establish that he was born in Carolina and had never been to Africa. It generated heated debate, but perhaps it’s best to regard The Interesting Narrative as a fictionalised account of a world that was horribly wrong.

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March 21, 2007

'There was no shot that I couldn't play'

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 03/21/2007

	Lawrence 'Yagga' Rowe at Sabina Park © Dileep Premachandran

I perked up when I heard that, but still couldn't identify him. When he
got up to speak to someone else, I quickly leaned over and asked my friend
who it was. "Lawrence Rowe" was the answer. I swore quietly, but my friend
assuaged the sense of shame somewhat when he said: "I didn't recognise him
either at first. Someone told me."

Lawrence Rowe. Viv Richards' hero. My hero's hero, and too good an
opportunity to miss. When he came back to his seat, I got up and went
over. I asked him if he would be prepared to chat sometime, fully
expecting a demand for dollars or a snub of some sort. Too many years on
the beat and too many idols with feet of clay does that to you. Rowe only
smiled. "I'd love to," he said. "Maybe sometime during the game tomorrow?
I'll be at the ground doing some analysis for a local station."

Continue reading "'There was no shot that I couldn't play'"

St Kitts - The World Cup's jewel

Posted by Andrew Miller on 03/21/2007

	Basseterre in St Kitts © Andrew Miller

"St Kitts is probably the jewel in the crown of the Cricket World
Cup," said Dehring. "Everything works, it is a beautiful place and
everything is within walking distance." And no-one has been at greater
pains to demonstrate this fact than the Prime Minister himself, Dr
Denzil Douglas who, warming to his opportunity to play the statesman
on the world stage, has become the very model of ubiquity over the
course of this week.

Continue reading "St Kitts - The World Cup's jewel"

March 20, 2007

Wall of Fame

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 03/20/2007

	The wall in Jamaica stretches over 30 feet, and is an artistic tribute to the sporting legends that have brought such glory to a tiny island. © Dileep Premachandran

If you’re not paying attention, you might just miss it, so unusual is the location. Opposite the National Stadium, it catches the eye as you turn left on to Roosevelt Avenue. I ask Spencer, my driver, to slow down, and then ask him what it is. “It da Jamaica wall of honour, man,” he says solemnly. When we get out of the car, I see that a drainage canal runs alongside the wall that stretches over 30 feet, and is an artistic tribute to the sporting legends that have brought such glory to a tiny island.

Some of the paintings are crude, especially the unflattering portrait of Michael Holding from his Whispering Death Afro days, but others are beautifully executed. The one of Lawrence Rowe – Yagga to those that adored him – playing a shot off the back-foot grabs your attention, as
does that of Courtney Walsh poised to bowl with that languid action.

And while the island’s cricketers have been tremendous ambassadors, starting with the incomparable George Headley, it’s perhaps revealing that the first three faces on the wall are all athletes. Arthur Wint, Jamaica’s first Olympic gold medallist [London, 1948], has pride of place, and next to him is Merlene Ottey-Page. But for drug cheats from behind the Iron Curtain, Ottey would have been the premier sprinter of her age, rather than someone doomed to silver and bronze.

Next to her is Donald Quarrie, sprint hero of the Montreal games and predecessor to the likes of Asafa Powell. The cricketers come only after that, and Spencer speaks breathlessly in his scattergun patois about Rowe. “I watch him as a little boy. He da man.” When I mention that even King Viv idolised Rowe, Spencer beams with pride.

The misfit among the murals is easy to spot. Sir Frank Worrell was born in Barbados and when I ask Spencer why he’s there, he has no answer. But as the memorial service for him at Westminster Abbey revealed, Worrell belonged to far more than one island. A captain who transcended the sport, he’s remembered as the binding force that helped to make this
conglomeration of islands the game’s premier power.

Even more poignant than the hero who dies young – Worrell succumbed to cancer at the age of 42 – is the one who falls from grace. Allan ‘Skill’ Cole is still regarded as the greatest footballer that Jamaica has produced, and the first to play professionally in Brazil. But in 2002, he was one of six men implicated in a drug bust. A Rastafarian, Cole was a dear friend of Bob Marley, with whom he would have kick-abouts on Hope Road. His dreadlocks and his fondness for ganja eventually ended the Brazilian adventure, and he was briefly Marley’s manager. And to this day,
some insist that he might have penned a couple of Marley’s hits.

As we walk back to the car and the reggae classics playing on the radio, you can’t help but think of Marley’s most haunting lines. Good friends we have, good friends we lost along the way…

March 14, 2007

It's not the losing, but how you lose

Posted by Andrew Miller on 03/14/2007

	Little Scotland - The kilts make an entry in St Kitts © Cricinfo Ltd

Scotland, famously, have never qualified from the group stages of any of their innumerable football World Cup campaigns, and if their first day of action in cricket's big fandango is anything to go by, a similar pattern is set to be repeated in the coming fortnight. Massive yet heroic failure is the nation's stock-in-trade in any given sporting event - and their fans are contentedly resigned to their fate.

"Scotland don't go to many World Cups in any sport these days, but a trip to the Caribbean for two weeks … it's a tough choice." Martin Brown, an investment manager from Edinburgh, puts the dilemma in a nutshell as he stands beneath the scoreboard at midwicket, watching the inevitable unfold before his eyes.

Continue reading "It's not the losing, but how you lose"

March 13, 2007

Small but perfectly formed

Posted by Andrew Miller on 03/13/2007

	The new stadium in St Kitts has been built on time and on budget © Andrew Miller

It's a tale with all the ingredients for a classic feelgood movie, although the happy ending will have to remain on hold for a little while longer. On Wednesday, the World Champions, Australia, take on Scotland in opening match of Group A, and only then will we see quite what this remarkable little island has to offer. The initial impressions are encouraging if a touch confusing, for cricket is not a game inscribed on this nation's soul.

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March 12, 2007

The King misses the party

Posted by Dileep_Premachandran on 03/12/2007

	Viv Richards may be the king of West Indies, but he couldn't get an invite to the World Cup opening ceremony © Getty Images

The flight from St Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles to Antigua was among the shortest I’ve ever taken, and the azure blue waters that wash the island with a beach for every day of the year came into view within half an hour of taking off. With Air France having managed to leave one of my bags behind in Paris, the first few minutes on the island that spawned one of cricket’s most iconic heroes weren’t pleasant ones.

“First time in Antigua?” asked the woman at immigration. I said yes, adding that it meant a lot to me to finally be on his island. Growing up a brown boy in the UK of the early 1980s, that swagger, the success and those red-yellow-and-green wristbands meant everything to me. There were others too, like the magnificent Michael Holding and Liverpool legend John Barnes (with roots in Jamaica), but if you ever needed one good reason to not be ashamed of your colour, it was him.

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