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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 4TH OCTOBER, 2015
REGIONALISM
Three years ago,
when franchise cricket was introduced
to the Caribbean, it provoked a considerable amount of
disquiet at many levels. It disturbed ideas of loyalty and
patriotism. It questioned inequitable distributions of
strengths. It resurrected unresolved issues within the region
about the dominance of big over small islands, and for the
millionth time, people vacillated between nationalism and
regionalism. It was a bumpy start.
How would you level this playing field?
Although on the surface it seemed like a wide range of
issues, it all seemed to come down to questions surrounding
identity. Am I West Indian? What does it mean to be West
Indian? Who am I?
In June, Professor GerardHutchinson raised the spectre
of the end of the West Indies as he discussed the dilemmas
of identity in this “age of branding.” (
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uwiToday/archive/june_2015/article13.asp)
“Cricket and the UWI have been touted as the last
remaining symbols of regional unity but the titleWest Indies
may now be anachronistic, given the current preferred
generic referencing of the region as the Caribbean,” he noted.
For a West Indian identity struggling to keep its head
afloat even in its own Caribbean waters, the idea of forming
franchise teams bearing national names but composed of
players scattered across the globe was unpalatable to many.
“It just felt downright weird,” said one woman as she
reflected on how her feelings had changed since 2012
when the Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament was
launched (the first edition was held in 2013). But in 2015 she
looked forward to it, and the things she had found unnatural
then, seem like the best aspect now.
The six inaugural teams reflected the global nature
of franchise cricket. They bore national names, but their
composition was primarily West Indian with international
players in the mix. It was indeed weird. For the 2015 edition,
while the T&T Red Steel’s 15-member squad featured seven
Trinis and three Bajans, of the Barbados Trident’s 16, six
were Trinis and six Bajans. How did one pitch support?
Nationalistic grounds didn’t seem to hold water.
Things have changed since that first year when Kieron
Pollard, a pillar of the Trinidad and Tobago team, was
named captain of the Barbados Tridents. It was like the old
flying fish bacchanal. It was unfair to Trinis to have their
T20 star poached and it was an affront to Bajans to have a
Trini foisted on them. There were protests against Pollard’s
selection, a former minister of social transformation, saying,
“I have a great difficulty with a Trinidadian captaining
the Barbados franchise in the upcoming CPL. They have
retained the name Barbados, so I believe a Barbadian like
[Dwayne] Smith or [Fidel] Edwards should be captain. I feel
it is fundamentally and psychologically wrong. It affects the
psyche of some Barbadians.”
Samuel Badree, a player from Trinidad and Tobago,
thought it went against the spirit of the tournament. “I
think the names should not be that of the countries. They
need to come up with something creative. To have (Kieron)
Pollard (of Trinidad) playing for Barbados and calling the
team Barbados does not make sense and won’t reflect what
they are trying to achieve with the CPL.”
Bringing the knowledge and experience of years of
international cricket to the table, Sir Gary Sobers stepped
up, saying he believed the franchise system would help
strengthen West Indian bonds.
“If Pollard is playing for Barbados and he is the captain,
I don’t see anything wrong with it,” he was quoted as saying
in the Bajan press. “If it was like the inter-territorial games
[in the past] and he was playing for Barbados, well then he
became a Barbadian because he was playing for Barbados
and that is a similar thing that is happening right now. I
don’t see the big argument about it and all the fuss that is
being made.”
Chris Gayle, captain of the Jamaica Tallawahs, shows his support for both sides at the final match between the T&T Red Steel and the Barbados
Tridents in the 2015 edition.
PHOTOS: CPL T20 LTD.
UWI TODAY
editor,
Vaneisa Baksh
, explores the recent
Caribbean Premier League tournament’s contribution to the region.
It didn’t end then. In the second year, the T&T
Minister of Sport was so incensed at the export of players
he considered key to T&T’s success (like Sunil Narine), he
refused to permit the Red Steel team to be branded as a
national one, saying it was an issue of sovereignty. Captain
Dwayne Bravo was already out on the field for the toss
against the Barbados Tridents in Grenada when he was told
he no longer represented a T&T team.
“I was shocked and I thought it was a joke but I was
told so officially,” he said.
The T&T brand was returned to the Red Steel teamafter
other ministerial interventions, but questions of identity and
loyalty remained close to the surface even as they seemed
to have gone under the skin.
As the games played out, a number of elements
combined to assuage fears and misgivings. Interest, then
support began to grow.
What was it that people discerned that made them shift
in their seats?
It wasn’t one thing. It was about twenty.
First, as if to underscore the dead zone in which the
West Indies Cricket Board operates, the tournament was
launched with a thoughtful and robust marketing strategy
that was well communicated.That kind of promotional hype
had only previously been matched in the region by Allen
Stanford. It has never even been imagined by the WICB.
Even so, the openingmatches did not draw crowds; and
for a time, it seemed this too would go theWICB way. Then
momentum came riding in like a drama queen.
The tournament’s structure, drawing on the experience
of former West Indies players as mentors and coaches,
added an indefinable touch of class. It showed respect and
appreciation for them; and it was an important element
because at everymatch, nomatter howdeep the partymood,
their presence was a visible reminder of the magnificent
heritage of West Indies cricket.
AFlagfortheIslands
