SUNDAY 4TH OCTOBER, 2015 – UWI TODAY
15
REGIONALISM
I had followed the tournament with great curiosity
since its inception, and this year it struck me that only
something that has managed to penetrate right to the core
could have caused so many changes in such a short time.
It has only been three years, and the CPL has become
acclaimed internationally as the biggest party in sport; its
blend of fabulous locations and exciting cricket combining
to provide the perfect tourist package. (Those two elements
had been an integral part of West Indies cricket once upon
a time.) And while for the purists that may not be the ideal
branding, the point is that it is very high on the radar of
people in and out of the region.
At the end of the 2015 tournament, Bajans were ready
to make Pollard a citizen, and though he descended to silly
behaviour on the field too often; it was because they thought
that his captaincy was excellent. (It was an interesting
element of the rivalry that the final showdown was between
teams headed by Trinidadian friends.)
As the tournament grows, not only has its following, but
the nature of the support has shifted. People have learned
to move past nationalities and are more prepared to focus
on good cricket – technique, athleticism, strategies and
talent. And there was a lot of that on display – in shocking
contrast to the standard we are exposed to when the West
Indies senior team performs. Indeed, one of the elements of
the CPL that makes people seethe is seeing players deliver
outstanding performances when their normal modus is
unremarkable.
I think the root of this could be traced to what players
of a former time have often identified as a key factor to
developing their cricket: playing county cricket in England.
So many of our better players have said that it took their
game several notches higher because they were able to
learn a variety of techniques, and significantly, the exposure
to different cultures broadened their minds. They could
observe lifestyles that were alien, approaches to fitness
and training that were disciplined and rigorous, and being
around players as teammates, meant knowledge was being
shared.
It was clear that there were many benefits from having
teams with a mixture of players and cultures. (The Jamaica
Tallawahs was the only team with an almost entirely
national membership with ten in the 15-member squad.)
From the very first edition, the quality of fielding had been
remarkable. I cannot forget the SouthAfricanMartinGuptill
for some of his fieldwork in the second and third editions.
You could see young West Indian (and I don’t mean
the team) players approaching the fielding with slides and
stops they would not ordinarily use. The competitive spirit
was also many realms above the norm, and I daresay that
the nature of T20 cricket extracts a very high adrenaline
flow that contributes to the intensity of the performances.
At another level, the widespread coverage and the
opportunity to share close spaces with international cricket
stars would have helped build the confidence of the younger,
inexperienced players in the mix. I include here the former
West Indian players, icons of another era –whose value is not
often appreciated by our homegrown youth – being treated
with the respect they deserve. Can you imagine the impact
of being in close proximity to the knights: Viv, Curtly, Andy,
and Courtney, Gordon and Desmond?
For the youngsters it was an opportunity of a lifetime
for them to play cricket on an international stage.This year’s
CPL featured 69 players from the region, giving them that
fateful chance tomake an impression, and giving us a chance
to see who has been waiting in the wings.
The more I think about the CPL, the more I think it is
something good for the region.
Marissa, a young woman with a passion for life, said she
attended the match between the Tridents and the Red Steel
(not the final) and “it was one of the top five events of my
CPL 1:
July 30-August 24, 2013
TEAM
CAPTAIN
NATIONALITY
Antigua Hawksbills............................................Marlon Samuels....................................... Jamaica
Barbados Tridents.............................................. Kieron Pollard........................................... Trinidad and Tobago
Guyana Amazon Warriors............................... Ramnaresh Sarwan................................. Guyana
Jamaica Tallawahs.............................................. Chris Gayle................................................. Jamaica
St Lucia Zouks..................................................... Darren Sammy.......................................... St Lucia
Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel..................... Dwayne Bravo........................................... Trinidad and Tobago
COUNTRY
TEAMS
TOTAL
REPRESENTING
PLAYERS
Barbados............................................................... 4..................................................................... 15
Trinidad & Tobago.............................................. 5..................................................................... 18
Guyana................................................................... 3..................................................................... 09
Jamaica.................................................................. 2..................................................................... 12
St Lucia................................................................... 1..................................................................... 03
St Kitts & Nevis.................................................... 1..................................................................... 02
Montserrat............................................................ 1..................................................................... 01
Dominica............................................................... 1..................................................................... 02
St Vincent & the Grenadines.......................... 2..................................................................... 03
Antigua.................................................................. 1..................................................................... 03
Grenada................................................................. 1..................................................................... 01
Sri Lanka................................................................ 3..................................................................... 03
Pakistan................................................................. 4..................................................................... 06
South Africa......................................................... 6..................................................................... 09
Australia................................................................ 2..................................................................... 02
England................................................................. 1..................................................................... 01
New Zealand........................................................ 3..................................................................... 04
CPL 3:
June 20-July 26, 2015
While there were a few changes during the 32-match tournament (the Antigua Hawksbills was transformed
into the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots), at the beginning, 94 players were scheduled to take part. Participation
came from 11 countries from the region, accounting for 69 players with 25 coming from the six other nations
involved. Trinidad and Tobago offered the greatest number of players to the tournament with 18, spread out
most widely, over five teams. Barbados was next with 15 players spread over four teams.
For those interested in just how the players were spread out, here is a breakdown.
life.” At the games, the screaming fans, the flags that proudly
flew, the cap that supported one team with its bearer clad
in a tee-shirt supporting another, or the painted face ready
to turn the other cheek to show support for both teams –
they told a story of people feeling the threads of an identity
woven out of mixtures – a West Indian story.
But as with all things West Indian, size is an issue.
After the tournament’s third season, Tony Becca, a
cricket writer for decades, wondered whether the region
was too small to contain the CPL.
His comments came after the CPL’s CEO Damien
O’Donohoe said that the region was economically
constrained both by its size and the global climate and for
the next season they would be exploring the possibilities of
the USA, particularly Florida.
My understanding is that regional governments had
been asked to contribute US$ 1 million to host matches
with a return of over twenty times that amount. It is
curious that with figures like that being assured, continued
investment seems tentative at best. Perhaps after the ICC
World Cup hosted by the West Indies in 2007 at great cost,
there is greater skepticism about financial returns, and
in the shrunken economies of today, the risk appears too
high. But there are benefits that are broader: apart from
strengthening the region’s tourism profile, it can rebuild a
sense of regional pride and identity. With Hero Motocorp
of India taking over from Limacol as the overall sponsor,
it’s possible that the ground can really open up and swallow
the greatest party in sport.
I think there is a mental boundary that is hard for many
people to breach. We think that because we are islands
we are too small to contain anything big. I disagree. This
region has produced so many phenomenal people, things
and events that I am sure it has a higher per capita output
than anywhere else in the world. But we still find it difficult
to imagine the potential within.
It comes back to that question of identity so hauntingly
raised by Professor Hutchinson. How do we see ourselves?
In a world that has changed realities more than once in your
lifetime, we have to bemindful of change and be prepared for
it. Test cricket is not the same as T20; they were designed for
worlds apart. And no matter how T20 evolves, Test cricket
is already slipping into the arms of history.
In just three short years, the CPL went from being an
alarming outsider to a beloved part of the family.
It has breathed new life into cricket in the Caribbean,
or if you prefer, West Indies cricket.
