We’re still fooling ourselves

The Caribbean media represent a very special breed. They seem only too anxious to be consistently inconsistent without batting an eye.
In the recent series against the Australians the Caribbean media behaved in a manner all too familiar. They could only be compared in their behaviour with the West Indies Cricket Board – lacking vision and eagerly flattering to deceive.

Test series
During the first test the regional media was ecstatic about the prospect of a West Indies victory. They were lost in the swooning that seemed to have gripped the region believing that finally we had managed to turn the tide of defeat.
This is the same media that had come to an earlier recognition that the West Indies team is perhaps the only test playing nation that possess the distinct capability of snatching defeat from the clutches of victory. That is exactly what happened in Jamaica for the first test.
The West Indies team had soldiered on well enough to have convinced many that they had come around some sort of corner but, as has happened so often in the past, when confronted by a Mack Truck on coming out of the corner, they proved incapable of swerving away.
The Caribbean media had forgotten all of this and went along with the general regional euphoria, only to be cast down on the final day.
The much-touted Chanderpaul continued to be the seemingly selfish player that he is. His indifference to the other players with little batting capability towards the end of an innings has been displayed all too often for us to ignore. It now seems that his main interest is getting into the record books, regardless of the consequences for the team on which he plays. That is now most evident.
Throughout the region there were Caribbean people eager in expectation of a West Indies victory over Australia. No doubt there were many on the team who had long wanted to see the back of Brian Lara who would have relished the opportunity to throw such a victory in the former captain’s face.