Keep favouritism out of our cricket

07.SEPT.07

Editor: Please permit me a space to air my views on a matter that has me quite baffled. I am a cricket fanatic, especially when it comes to female cricket. In the olden days, when I was young, a woman’s place was in the home, preparing food, cleaning the house, taking care of both her husband and children. Now things have changed rapidly, in terms of women being independent.{{more}} Seeing women playing cricket is truly amazing. Some try to bat like Brian Lara, even Chris Gayle. Others try to bowl line and length like Courtney Walsh and Courtney Ambrose. Their fielding is creditable.

I have watched them play practice matches amongst themselves, against the “Neil Williams Cricket Academy”, and even older guys, and in the National Female Competition. They are an inspiration to look at. With the above being said, however, women’s cricket has been suffering over the years. I have noticed that when it is time to pick a team to represent SVG, the same women are being picked by the same administrators who go unopposed year after year.

Furthermore, players and teams are favoured, not on the basis of merit, but because of interpersonal relationships with members of the Women’s Cricket Association. There are talented females who simply want to play the sport; do they stifle their talent and quietly bow out under the weight of injustice? I have seen persons with greater ability who can play well, who are either left off or left behind.

Discipline plays a very important role in sports, but in this case what goes for others does not apply to favoured individuals. This writer is aware of situations where favoured persons are not punished for wrong doings. Their wrongs are swept under the carpet, whereas some players’ wrongs make headlines on camp and elsewhere. That’s a double standard. I would like to see female cricket move forward based on talent, discipline, persons wanting to make a positive contribution for the game and not just favouritism. Also, better administrators who know and play cricket, to offer fair opportunities to females without bias.

Cricketer