A sorry tale

The fact that the regional premier Cricket Competition’s final, supposedly between the two top teams, can finish within two days, exemplifies the sorry tale of West Indies Cricket.{{more}}

Jamaica marched to their fourth successive win in the West Indies Cricket Board four-day cricket competition, with a crushing eight-wicket defeat of the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) at the 3 W’s Oval in Barbados last weekend, a match that lasted Friday and Saturday.

Crushing, in the context that the much-touted CCC ended at the top of the table at the end of the preliminary round.

Contextually, too, a total of 31 wickets fell for474, involving the “crème de la crème” of regional Cricket.

But despite the poor batsmanship as displayed by our regional players, the question of the pitch at the 3W’s Oval must come into question.

Indeed, whilst there is the common perception and proven correct, that regional batsmen are at sea to slow bowling, certainly using a spinner to open one’s bowling attack, is more a ploy in the shorter forms of the game, than what occurs in the longer versions, namely four-day matches and Tests.

Therefore, when the CCC boldly did so in the semifinals against the Windwards and last weekend against Jamaica, their think tank could have been more aware of the pitch’s preparations than their opposing numbers.

But the issue lies greater than that, as it sends a false sense of security to the CCC’s two chief wicket-takers this season, spinners Ryan Austin, 44 wickets and Kavesh Kantasingh, 42.

What is significant in the untold tally is that the bulk of the wickets were taken at home. Of Austin’s 44 wickets, 36 were captured at home, while Kantasingh took 37 at home, and a mere five when he ventured away.

Do we expect them to bamboozle top class batsmen?

Statistics do not lie, but can be misleading. So the two statistically are the two best in the region, barring the absence of Sulieman Benn, Nikita Miller and Davendra Bishoo, who were away on West Indies duties during the World Cup.

It was all a slow bowlers competition, as Gairy Mathurin of the Windwards bagged 37 wickets , Odean Brown of Jamaica with 30 wickets to his name, Liam Sebastian of the Windwards, 27, so, too, did Amit Jagguernaut of Trinidad and Tobago.

In between the lot was the England Lions’ Danny Briggs who snared 33 wickets.

The falsity of the regional competition also occurred again with the tried and tested batsmen scoring the bulk of the runs. Among them were the Jamaican trio of Marlon Samuels, Wavell Hinds and Brendon Nash, Trinidad and Tobago’s Darren Ganga, and the Windwards’ Andre Fletcher.

Samuels scored 853, Hinds, 653, Nash, 626, Ganga, 620, and Fletcher, 562. The other West Indians to pass the 500 threshold were Kyle Corbin of the CCC, 573 and Lendl Simmons of Trinidad and Tobago, 513.

Therefore, much of the new faces and the emerging players did not take advantage of the absence of the incumbents, but instead allowed those who have already tasted West Indies selection, to once more put themselves back into the reckoning.

Having said all that, the most sorry tale coming from this year’s competition was Trinidad and Tobago’s grand charge of wanting to take legal action for the semifinal faux pas.

Recounting the facts, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica ended their semifinal match in a no-decision, but Jamaica, advanced to the final, having gained the better result in their head to head in the preliminary.

And, this was according to the rules made clear prior to the competition.

The laughable thing was the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board in their folly sought legal action, stating that the rule was “ambiguous”.

It is no wonder we are where we are, when those in charge lack the ability to reason.

But while we discuss the poor state of the regional game, the West Indies Cricket Board, without a sponsor, still has to fork out US$1,300 per player each match. It is like fishing in a dry pond.

A sorry tale, too, that the Mound remains at the Sion Hill Playing Field.