Cricket funny business – the Patterson Report

14


When one reads or hears about West Indies cricket these days one becomes very worried. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. The news is always a mixed bag and we are never convinced that we have reached the corner far less to get around it successfully.

Tour of England

There is no point in reminiscing on the West Indies visit to Ireland since it made absolutely no sense in terms of impacting our game.

It mattered only to the directionless leaders of the game in the region who have long since lost any understanding of the sport. Maybe, somewhere in their own twisted understanding of what they purport to be doing for the game in the region, it was financially beneficial.

Of interest to us is the failed, some may say blotched and blighted, tour of England. The West Indies lost the test series in what pundits would say was another shameful display yet we are sure to find those ever-optimistic personages in the region who would insist that we did well and that the performance augurs well for the future of the game. The old adage, “There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see” rings true yet again.

Both teams, England and the West Indies, played poorly throughout the series, a fact that all of the serious analysts of the game understood and regretted. The series did nothing to lift the game in the aftermath of a most despicable CWC2007.

At the conclusion of the tour some thought that we managed to salvage some pride. We won the One Day series. So what?