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At last, someone with clout has stood up for us long-suffering West Indies fans. God only knows why the previous administration so ignored an issue so dear to the hearts of so many - it certainly was not because of a lack of complaints from those who care.
But better late than never, and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller's firm presentation of the facts has finally brought to the fore the issues strangling cricket around the West Indies, and especially in Jamaica.
Cricket in this country has never been at a lower ebb. Crowd attendance at schoolboy and club cricket is virtually non-existent. At regional matches, gatherings of over 500 are now considered 'large'.
Last year's one-day international match against India drew one of the smallest crowds ever for an ODI at Sabina, and the 2011 Test match crowd was indisputably the lowest ever for a Test match held in Jamaica.
Holding the ODI and Test match on working days only did not help, of course, but then this fact also points to the complete indifference of the Jamaica Cricket Association and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to the long-term health of the game. For those of us who regard a weekend at Sabina watching the West Indies as one of our yearly highlights, the 'no-matches-on-weekends' schedule was a slap in the face. No matter what the short-term television benefits, no sport that ignores its diehard fans can survive in the long haul.
Since then, it's been out of the frying pan into the fire, with Jamaica not even being given a Test or ODI for the upcoming Australian tour.
dumb weather excuse
Never before in the history of West Indies cricket have we not been granted a game when a major team has toured. Is the WICB trying to extinguish all interest in West Indies cricket in Jamaica?
After Mrs Simpson Miller exposed its pathetic hypocrisy, the WICB gave some ridiculous excuse about rainfall for Jamaica not getting an Australian Test or ODI. Well, Dominica is now scheduled to host a Test against Australia in April, despite getting an average of 8.1 inches of rainfall in that month, compared to 2.5 inches for Jamaica. So the WICB is either lying blatantly or doesn't have a clue what it is doing.
Had we been picking the best possible team based on performance, the West Indies' 2011 record would almost certainly have been a lot better. Chris Gayle, for instance, since 2008 has averaged above 50 in Tests and almost 40 in ODIs, while his replacements have struggled to average even 10. So the law of averages suggests that with Chris Gayle, the West Indies would have made about 80 runs more per Test and 30 more in ODIs, and so possibly won every Test and one-day series they played last year. This would have rekindled interest in the game across the region, including Jamaica.
continue @ http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...us/focus1.html
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