Grandstand finish to lousy tournament

Tony Becca, Contributor

The regional 50-over tournament finished in an unbelievable climax at Sabina Park last Sunday as Barbados and the Leeward Islands battled, or rather meandered, to a tie that left them sharing the honours.

In a tournament in which one of the favourites, Trinidad and Tobago, finished out of the picture, and the other, Jamaica, just managed to squeeze into the semi-finals before being beaten by 58 runs, Barbados and the Leeward Islands survived the rain, the no-results, the Duckworth-Lewis, the poorly prepared pitches, the poor cricket, and the bad umpiring to reach the final.

And in the final, before a few hundred spectators at best, they came up with a performance which, barring some aggressive bowling by Tino Best and some tidy bowling by Lionel Baker, must have saddened the hearts of every West Indian - especially those who remember the days when West Indies cricketers ruled the roost.

Batting first, on a pitch which although not the best held no terrors for the batsmen, the Leeward Islands were bungled out for 139 in 32.5 overs, and batting second, Barbados fell for 139 in 38 overs.

It was, however, more disappointing than that.

The Leeward Islands were 17 for three before they staged a recovery of sorts. Barbados were 54 for five off 17 overs, then 122 for seven, and finally 139 for eight before Kirk Edwards was bowled for 48 and Best was run out off the first ball he received, with 12 overs to go.

Time was also not a problem, not with over still two hours to go.

The final, however, was a fitting result to the tournament in which 15 matches were played in 11 days, all starting at the ungodly hour of nine o'clock in the morning, when the dew was still around.

The idea of playing a tournament in 11 days, even with 15 matches, in one country may not be a bad idea, providing the real idea behind it is entertainment.

If, however, it is for development, it is a silly thing to do.

Begging for trouble

If the tournament is to develop West Indies cricket, it must be played over a longer period of time. It must be played in different conditions and, therefore, it must be played in different territories.

On top of that, cricket is begging for support right around the Caribbean right now, and to play all the matches in one territory is begging for trouble. West Indians are accustomed to supporting their own team, and when the tournament is played in one place, there is only one team to support - the home team.

At times during this tournament, there was hardly any one on the ground but the players, the officials, and the staff long after the start of play. In any language that is bad.

Recently, the West Indies Cricket Board has seen it fit to make a number of changes to its competitions, in its effort to expose more players. It has included both the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) and the High Performance Centre (HPC) teams, and that is a mistake, in more ways than one.

First, the competition is supposed to be between its six members - Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Leeward Islands, and the Windward Islands, and that does not include either the CCC or the HPC.

Second, apart from assisting the development of the players from these islands, the tournament is a test of the respective strength of these islands, and presently the CCC and HPC teams draw some of their players from the island teams.

The CCC team in this year's tournament consisted of players like captain Romel Currency (Windward Islands), Ryan Austin, Martin Nurse, and Omar Phillips (Barbados), Kavash Kantasingh and William Perkins (Trinidad and Tobago). The HPC team was made up of players like captain Sharmah Brooks and Jason Holder (Barbados), Brandon Bess and Veersammy Permaul (Guyana), Kieran Powell (Leeward Islands), Kevin McClean and Devon Thomas (Windward Islands). All of these players have represented their country's team, with a few of them wearing the West Indies cap.

One day, the CCC team or the Sagicor HPC team, may win the title with a team mostly of Barbadians and the real Barbados may finish last with a team of second-string Barbadians.

I wonder how the Barbadians will accept that, especially as they like to win.

This year, although they shared the title, they nearly never got the chance to do so.

Scheduled semi-final

After winning their first two matches and playing to a no-result in a rain-affected match with the HPC team at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium, Barbados were scheduled to play Jamaica in the second semi-final at the same ground when, in the interest of cricket-and because of the threat of more rain, the match was rescheduled by the West Indies Cricket Board for Sabina Park.

According to the rules of the tournament, however, Jamaica would have lost the match had it finished in a no-result. They would have had no chance of reaching the final, and it should not have been rescheduled.

A tournament is a tournament, and regardless of what happens, cricket or no cricket, the match should not have been rescheduled as it offered a chance to Jamaica, contrary to rules.

Barbados played under protest, and thank God, in the interest of cricket they won, and handsomely at that.