?In West Indies cricket, so many different things could happen in one year. As we start the 2010 international cricket season in the Caribbean, with Zimbabwe, the ICC T-20 World Cup and the South Africa tours to be completed by the end of June, a quick overview of the last cricket year, and the cricket to come this year, would not be amiss. Firstly, excellently done! Unlike the West Indies bowlers who normally manage only one such success, Brian Mac Farlane has performed the beaver-trick, winning the 2010 Carnival Band of the Year competition with Resurrection The Mas; carrying on from Peter Minshall and Wayne Berkeley. Mac Farlane has learned from those past, but always great, masters. If only our present-day cricketers can cast their minds way back into the past, too! Also, I was there when Machel and Beyonce performed on the same stage previously, Destiny's Child opening for him in Toronto. Now, he has done the honours for her in T&T. Good teamwork, that! After the enjoyment of Carnival, and the Beyonce concert, it is time to come back to reality–to the business that is West Indies cricket.
Better results in the T-20 vs Aussies
Much of significance has happened with West Indies cricket over the last year, to February 2010, and so much is yet to come in 2010, a year with three massive parts. We can only hope that the West Indies does better in every facet than when in Australia. By this time next week, West Indies cricket would have started hosting Zimbabwe for one T-20 International and five One-Day Internationals. If I were the West Indies selectors and the West Indies Cricket Board, I would take Zimbabwe very seriously indeed. They are not coming here to just to be the first part of Caribbean cricket season. Neither are they coming here to be an appetiser for the ICC T-20 competition, which starts at the end of April next, or even the South African tour, which follows in May.
With the re-inclusion of past players like Grant Flower, England Coach Andy Flower's brother, and Heath Streak in their planning, the Prosper Utseya-led team will be determined to give a great account of itself. Brendan Taylor, Tatenda Taibu, Hamilton Mazakadza, Ray Price, Vusi Sibanda, Stuart Mazikenyeri and Elton Chigunbura all have international experiences, so it will not be easy for the West Indies.
West Indies vs Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe will be going all out to beat the West Indies in 2010, as their future in Test cricket can be at stake. Just like the West Indies did, when they picked a Test team to tour Australia late last year from a one-day competition in Guyana, or then picked a one-day squad from the early games of the 2010 four-day competition, Zimbabwe are going to use a ODI series to find out if they are now good enough for proper international cricket after pulling out, for political reasons, a few years ago. They will not have to look too far back to see that it can be done, even if the home team should beat them. The West Indies have failed so dismally in Australia that they could only be better against Zimbabwe. I also think that the West Indies should start looking for a new captain, a real captain, one that could inspire with leadership and performances, too.
Chris Gayle had not been the former at all, and I am not sure how long he will last as a West Indies player, with so much short-form cricket to be played soon. It is my guess that he, Shiv Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, at least, will be around as long as the 2011 ICC World Cup in Asia. While that leadership business must be the subject of another article, the candidates now would include Dwayne Bravo and Denesh Ramdin. Judging from the 2010 regional competition, no one new qualifies. In my mind, the present situation cannot go on much longer. Cricket is not about talk! Acting Coach David Williams may have had a raw deal as regards the full coaching position, losing out to Ottis Gibson, but his utterances, along with Gayle's, have been much less than awe-inspiring in Australia. Much must change here. At least, the West Indies did get rid of John Dyson, who, most people agreed, was a dud from the start!
LEFT: ?Robert Allen Stanford...first anniversary of his fall from grace
The fall of Stanford for fraud
I would also like to remind our readers that this week marked the first anniversary of the fall, and further fall, of Robert Allen Stanford. On February 17, 2009, he met his Waterloo. By the close of that day, he had been hounded for "a fraud of massive proportions" by the USA's Securities & Exchange Commission, purporting to be in the US$8b region. After being in hiding, he was eventually caught and charged. The real fallout of that situation continued this last week, with many of the clients of his banks in Antigua & Barbuda now suing both, the Government of Antigua & Barbuda and the banks themselves, for the monies that were supposed to have disappeared. What has me most amazed is that none, not one of the West Indies Stanford Legends have said a single word in this situation. In the meantime, RAS languishes in a US jail! Go figure that one!
In 2009, the West Indies managed to beat England in a Test series, in the West Indies, as Jerome Taylor delivered in the 1st Test in Jamaica; the West Indies eventually winning the Test series 1-0. By the 2nd Test of that series, the entire region was again on its knees, with yet another abandoned Test match, this time in Antigua & Barbuda, after the same opponents had abandoned one in Jamaica in 1995. On the very next tour, England had regained the Wisden Trophy, by beating the West Indies in England. Worse did happen!
Bangladesh wins Test series
Bangladesh was the second tourist last year, and managed, with great credit to the minions of world Test cricket, to beat the West Indies in both Test matches played. Okay, it was supposed to have been a second-string West Indies team, since, as had become the norm, the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players Association were again at loggerheads. In the end, even Sir Shridath Ramphal, the former Commonwealth secretary general, had to give up trying to settle anything. However, Bangladesh captain Shakib al Hasan and his players rewrote the history books, regardless of the opposition. From that Bangladesh success in the Caribbean, Zimbabwe should take great heart. The Zims are going to be like bull dogs, straining at the leash, to try to unsettle the already unsettled West Indies, after their recent disastrous tour of Australia.
If they need inspiration, then the Zims can refer to the Bangladesh tour last year. In 2010, West Indies players like Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy and Adrian Barath will have to stand up to be counted, as they are the next wave of our cricket. Young Craig Braitwaite could also make his bones, as could Darren Bravo, if he recovers well. A year in the life of West Indies cricket could conjure up so many things. Enjoy!