De good ole days ah cricket

T-20 Cricket, the shorter version of the game is now as wild as NBA Basket Ball or European Soccer. Unlike de long, drawn-out Test Matches dat very often end in ah draw, yuh could sit down foh two hours and watch ah T-20 match, action packed, dat must conclude wid ah result. Right now de IPL Cricket Series is in high gay way most, if not all ah de best cricketers in de game today are involved. Cricketers from de most powerful cricketing nations in dis-play.{{more}} West Indies Stars: Gayle, Bravo, Pollard, Smith and even de new W.I. kid on de block, Narine all making ah name and good $$$ foh dem-selves.

Ah can’t help thinking ah we former great West Indian Cricketers who were born too early: Batsmen like de 3-W’s, Sobers, Lloyd, Richards, Lara to name ah few. Den our bowlers: Ram & Val; Hall & Griffith; Roberts, Garner, Holding, Croft, Gibbs to name ah few more. Let’s not overlook our own Vincy speedometer, Frank “FO” Mason de Black Panther; “FO” was right up dey wid dem. At my first experience of ah cricket match, “FO” was dey. Ah was about ten years ole, ah group of us kids were allowed to walk to Arnos Vale to watch SVG play. Ah read Wade “Kojo” William’s lively piece on “F.O,” seems like we both made our deb-U at Arnos Vale de same time and age. Wade remembers dey was a Race Track at Arnos Vale as well, all ah dat was before de E.T. Joshua Airport was built. What still stands out in my memory was de big sign over-head at de gate: “King George V Playing Field.” Back den de Windward Highway dat ran thru from CK Greaves over to Met-dis Church gate, literally divided de Casson’s estate, Playing Field above and Rice field between de road and de sea. However my first match was between SVG and ah team from Bo-bid-us, I think it was Wanderers Club, an all white Bajan team, dey looked like Englishmen or Australians. Ah still remember some big names like Atkinson, Marshall, Griffith, men who played foh de West Indies. Basil Dasent was captain ah de Vincy side, ah remember him hitting ah few sixes, Rabbit Warner was our star batsman, Congo Bonadie was dey too, but de man whose pace had dis strong Bajan side ducking and running was F.O. Mason. Now ah was only ten years den, didn’t know de game, ah took my “Q” from de noisy crowd, when dey shouted, ah shouted too, dat’s how ah get to learn de game. What ah could remember clearly was, one fellar got bowled down, de bails flying in de air, and de off stumps summer-salt about three times towards de slip.

F.O. was about 26 years ole and at his peak; ah year or two before that match, he had clean-bowled Sir Frank Worrell foh ah duck and thereafter registered his presence as one ah de fastest bowlers in de West Indies, if not in de world. But dat didn’t mek ah difference, in dem days to play foh de West Indies, yuh had to come from ah Big Island. Young people today see Darren Sammy from Sin Loose-her captaining de West Indies, ain’t know how far we Small Islanders have come. FO never made it onto de West Indies team, he and several others, players like Victor Hadley, Foster Huggins, Garner Niles, could ah mek it but didn’t. Back den de West Indies cricketing high-rocky, de know-it-alls of cricket, were hell bent on keeping de small islanders out ah de W.I team. Not only did dey feel threatened, but insularity was de order ah de day. Dey criticized our players say we not familiar wid Turf Wickets, we could only bowl and bat pon de matting, canvas covered wicket. Our fast bowlers could only bowl in soft-mash, ah overs dat from de time “FO” put on de cricket booths, de fire wuks began. Was only when Sir Frank Worrell, de Moses ah WI Cricket in ah vision, predicted dat de Windwards/ Leewards players will lead de way in West Indies Cricket, dat was like de day Justice came to de small islanders, de Daniels ah W.I. cricket, we were delivered from de Lions in de den. But “It wasn’t always so” as Mother Pryam uses to say, “It won’t be always so” either.

Back in de 1950’s and 1960’s ah lot ah de regional games were played at Victoria Park. School children got time out to watch de games free, adults had to pay. Interestingly Victoria Park was not enclosed, no pavilions, no gate, no barriers, only ah Bamboo across Bentick Square at de Gas Station, and one up at Peebles Bridge, near Convent School, de check points. Yes ah was present when “FO” bowled down Dominica foh 33 runs. One ah de greatest spell ah fast bowling seen in de West Indies. Of course, he didn’t do it alone. During de games back den, we had ah ole character from Bottom Town name Doorey, ah midget wid ah strong personality. Whenever SVG was not doing well, Doorey would vacate Victoria Park and return, dressed in red switch-tail suit, armed wid ah fishing rod, strung wid ah young breadfruit and two Jack Fish, and ah gang ah kids following him, chanting. He had his own Road March Song as well: “Bring de rope ley me heng Dominica! Bring de Rope!” De Pry Minister say he does wuk Owe-be-yah foh God? When yuh see Doorey made his re-entry onto de Park de odds always swung to SVG. Dat Dominica vs SVG match was something else. One ah de tings ah remember was Mason pitching fire and brimstone on one end, and Elliot Cambridge at de other end had Shillingford caught in de slip; out came Clem John in bright sunlight, but de park went silent when he headed to de square leg umpire and not de wicket; John, widout even facing ah single delivery, was appealing for light. Dat’s how it was in de Good Ole days ah Cricket when FO terror-eyes batsmen from all over.

And wid dat is gone ah gone again!

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.