Can the Caribbean overcome the problems posed by size?

When Tendulkar and others were not included in the Indian Test team to tour the Caribbean, I was reminded of an observation made by Robert Bradshaw. Mr Bradshaw was, of course, the Premier of St Kitts and the Minister of Finance in our short-lived Federation.{{more}} He had declared that the Commonwealth Caribbean was once a backwater and we were heading back there fast. At the time when he made the remark, I was not certain whether it was a prognosis of the future or merely a registration of his disillusionment with the breakup of the Federation.

Be that as it may, time was when the Indian batsmen would start backing away even before our fast bowlers even reached the popping crease. In their turn at the wicket our opening batsmen, particularly, JK Holt Jnr. would hook the Indian fast bowlers imperiously and mercilessly. One soon learnt that unless you were a great fast bowler you bounced to Holt at your peril. I genuinely feared that JK would lift the roof off one of those Indian pavilions with his vicious hooking. Now things have changed and indeed come to a pretty pass. The Indians, as they did with Zimbabwe, have sent their second eleven to play us, and so far they have been winning.

In the sixties the Caribbean stood tall. We not only had a great cricket team, we had also writers, some of whom would go on to win the Nobel Prize. We had, too, that other Nobel Prize winner, Sir Arthur Lewis. The bigger islands had a trio of Oxbridge graduates as leaders. The worst aspects of colonialism had passed, though we were still closely connected with the UK. Most of our writers lived there; some even declared that if they returned to the Caribbean they would lose their inspiration. Many of our cricketers played League and County cricket in England. Sir Arthur was Professor at Manchester. We were, as it were, linked into much wider world. With Independence those links were weakened. We became many tiny nations scattered across the Caribbean Sea.

In contrast, India is a subcontinent with over 1000 million people, a total GDP of $912 billion and a growth rate of 7 per cent per annum. These economic statistics have implications for cricket. India has about 200 times the number of people as we do from whom to choose a cricket eleven. With its burgeoning middle class and their commitment to the game, India can lavish money on cricket in a way we cannot. The rewards available from the IPL are sufficient to incentivise most Indian youngsters to become cricketers. Sri Lanka with a population of 21 million and GDP of $106 billion is considering having its own premier league. We probably would have had one too had Stanford being still around, but we all know what happened to that.

What is crystallizing before our very eyes are the economic consequences of the size of nations. A conference was held on this subject as long ago as 1957. It described a small nation as one with 10 million people or less, and went on to say that if the conference were being held 100 years later a small nation would be one of 20 million or less. This question of size has recently resurfaced. In a book called “Where good ideas come from”, Steven Johnson argues that what ultimately drives economic progress is ideas and innovation. Moreover, a city is not a town writ large. For a city to be dynamic and innovative, it should have a population of at least 5 million. This sort of size allows it to have the diversity that generates ideas that in turn leads to projects. The total population of the 11 independent Commonwealth Caribbean nations is about 6.5 million. None of them has a population of 5 million, not to mention a city of that size.

The disadvantages of the small state are quite clear: puny physical size, limited natural resources, relatively tiny populations and economies as well as governments heavily dependent on the outside world. Several measures have been suggested to overcome these limitations. They include integration of the Caribbean from Jamaica to Guyana. Integration will probably have to go even further. Another suggestion for improving our plight is that our people should make up in quality and social institutions what we lack in quantity. Some have even contended that being small and democratic we can by consensus impose greater burdens on our people in their long term interest than bigger and more authoritarian nations. In other words, we are not the Middle East. English being our mother tongue and the availability of the Internet are also pluses.

To get back to cricket where we started, we already have a regional approach as well as academies and centres of excellence. Perhaps we ought to take a leaf from the book of Barcelona Football Club. We should have a full boarding school for our young cricketers where cricket as well as O and A levels will be thought. Above all, as do at Barcelona, emphasis should be put on team-spirit, self-sacrifice and perseverance. In a word, try to make up in quality what we lack in quantity. The WICB can with the various National Lotteries run a regional lottery to pay for the school.