Time for players of promise to deliver

Tony Becca  ON THE BOUNDARY

The West Indies first-class cricket season opened on Friday and with the region's best players, who are away on tour of Sri Lanka and will be involved in the ICC World Cup, absent from the action, the fans are looking forward not so much to winning but to some good cricket, a keen competition, and, possibly, a parade of promising players.

The matches in progress are defending champions Jamaica versus Guyana, Leeward Islands against England Lions, Trinidad and Tobago versus Barbados, and Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) against the Windward Islands, and although I do not agree with the inclusion of the England Lions and the CCC teams, I hope that the cricket will be good and competitive and that some good, promising youngsters will come through.

reserved for the best

The England Lions do not belong in the competition because, in my opinion, the West Indies first-class competition should be reserved for West Indian teams, if not only for West Indians players. I do not believe the CCC team should be included because the West Indies first-class competition should be reserved for the best.

Passion in sport counts for something, and it must be different when Jamaica, for example, clash with Trinidad and Tobago, and when Jamaica play the CCC team, with a couple of Jamaicans at that, or when Trinidad and Tobago meet the England Lions, especially knowing that the England Lions will not contest the semi-finals and therefore cannot be crowned as champions of West Indies cricket.

Cricket is cricket, and although cricketers will always want to play cricket, it was interesting to hear what Chadwick Walton and Simon Jackson, who have played for the CCC team, had to say when they were selected in the Jamaica squad last week.

"I have been playing first-class cricket for the past three years and I hope the experience will make it less pressuring for me," said Walton.

"It has always been my dream, ever since youth-cricket days, to represent the senior team," said Jackson.

There is one good thing coming out of the presence of the CCC team and the England Lions, however.

There has always been a need to play more matches in the West Indies, but with only six first-class teams, the only way that could happen was to have return matches.

Although the need was obvious, may be because of the lack of money, may be because of the influence of the senior players, there has always been a reluctance to have return matches.

The addition of the two teams bringing the number up to eight, and with two semi-finals and a final, four teams will play seven matches, four teams, the top four West Indian teams, will play eight matches, and two teams will play nine matches.

Although circumstances will affect this, another good thing, apart from sensibly returning the tournament to a situation where all the teams play at the same time in different territories instead of playing multiple matches at the same time in one territory, is the scheduling of the matches, as much as possible, for the region's premier grounds.

It will not always happen because, although cricket is cricket, and although cricket should get preference, there will be times when, because of money, cricket grounds will be used for something else, like carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, or when, again because of money, cricket grounds will not be ready for use.

First-class cricket should be played at first-class grounds where there are first-class facilities, including good pitches and good out-fields for the players, and proper and comfortable accommodation for the spectators, for those who pay.

no entry fees

And talking about pay begs the question, why is it that, certainly in Jamaica, there is no fee to watch the matches?

The tournament cost money, and although the West Indies Cricket Board contributes some US$30,000 to US$35,000 for accommodation, meals, grounds etcetera for each match, even though the board is responsible for players' fees, umpires' fees, etcetera, the cost is much more than that, and the home team has to pick up the slack.

The gate, especially these days in Jamaica's cricket, do not count for much, but if Jamaica do not collect at the gates, from the people who want to see the matches, who do they expect to pay the bill, or at least some of it?

The best players are absent, and because of that, winning is secondary. Some changes, for the good of West Indies cricket, have been made to the tournament, however, good sense has prevailed, and the fans are now looking forward to some good cricket and some promising young cricketers - to the parade of some young guns, scoring lots of runs, taking many wickets, and making a bid, not only to get into the West Indies team, but to make it great once again.