By Cosmo Hamilton
At the dawn of a new year a hopeful populace is entitled to not just mundane resolutions to lose weight, exercise, and shed myriad bad habits like smoking and drinking in the interest of becoming more wholesome, healthy human beings.
But, as the page turns on a new calendar, various aspects of societal change if not transformation for the better are anticipated as we strive to ameliorate the condition of our neighborhoods, our communities and indeed our very lives going forward. It becomes a necessary component of personal growth and social, economic and political empowerment
Intrinsically sports has always been a catalyst for holistic human development and a watershed for socioeconomic growth worldwide. In Guyana, cricket in particular for decades has been a model of stability and has borne the hallmark of excellence amongst the pantheon of sports, dating back to the early 1900’s with such names as Christiani, Wight, Gaskin, Trim, Pairadeau, Kanhai, Butcher, Solomon, Gibbs, Lloyd, Kallicharan, Fredericks, Croft. Of more recent vintage would be Hooper, Harper, Chanderpaul and Sarwan. But recently it has been painful to watch the precipitous decline of Guyana’s stature in the game that in the past has brought the nation such acclaim.
Now as 2012 takes shape and the nation grapples with the modalities of a new paradigm in governance, and a new thrust in the development of sports in general, with iconic former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd at the fulcrum of the effort, a stunned local cricket community and a host of loyal supporters in the Diaspora already disgusted with the woeful erosion of standards in the game, are confronted with a kind of hierarchical hijacking of the infrastructure of Guyana’s cricket as it were.
The fallout of this mayhem purportedly precipitated by irregularities perpetrated by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has been that local cricket fans are being held hostage, unable to watch their team and international matches including a rare visit by Australia previously scheduled for the Providence National Stadium. The broader impact of course is the negative effect of this development on the Guyana economy.
Naturally, the festering fragmentation within the GCB, coupled with the lack of proper oversight and typical inaction of the West Indies Cricket Board, cricket’s governing body in the Caribbean, presented a perfect storm for the intervention of the Government of Guyana with Lloyd, former WICB director and chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee already co-opted by the administration for the broader focus, pressed into service to head their Interim Management Committee.
Some sports fans as well as the general public in this often polarized society might wonder why Lloyd – for all intents and purposes a true Guyanese hero, finds himself in the midst of such an internecine conflict and likely unpopular position. In my view first and foremost, the Queenstown native is a patriot. Needless to say, he is passionate about international cricket but moreso about the improvement and the administration of cricket in Guyana. His views on the state of the game in the Caribbean but more particularly in his native land are well known. Lloyd abhors corruption and mismanagement in the sport in which he has emerged historically as one of its greatest figures.
Rumor has it that the highly-respected former Windies skipper is being handsomely rewarded for his troubles. Be that as it may, one can rest assured that this ICC Hall of Famer is not in it for the remuneration. It was not so long ago that reliable sources intimated that Lloyd turned down several thousands of dollars from now jailed alleged ponzi schemer Allen Stanford, who then rewarded an ‘A’ list of West Indies cricket legends with regular considerable largesse. Lloyd’s principled position was that Stanford was not genuinely committed to the development of West Indies cricket and he declined to be part of his fragile financial bubble.
It is not unreasonable to assume that Lloyd, based on his career, has a vision for the improvement of sports in general in Guyana and cricket in particular, which countenances the unearthing of talent and the nurturing of such individuals into a system that would dispel typical cavalier pursuits and consistently instill a winning attitude and a voracious appetite for success amongst those recruits.
But this unfortunate fiasco should not be about Lloyd’s involvement and his interpretation of the edicts of the WICB and the ICC. Beyond that there is indeed much culpability to go around, certainly enough to fill the now empty, cavernous Providence Stadium. This situation is about a nation deprived of the benefit of enjoying a sport that they have loved and supported passionately without interruption for over a century. The simple pleasures of enjoying the sport of cricket at all levels in Guyana has not merely been a privilege – it has been a birthright. It is woven into the rich fabric of our society. That right has been denied courtesy of mismanagement by a cadre of misguided misfits engaged in an orgy of corruption.
Cricket has always been a sport steeped in rigid tradition. But it is a travesty if not a disgrace to witness the WICB, which apparently stood idly by as its affiliate cricket body in Guyana sank into a state of dysfunction, now unilaterally and arbitrarily rip the heart of international cricket from the people of Guyana who have loyally supported it for over a century. In addition, with that hint of hubris the prideful national team of Guyana – Golden Arrowhead and all, were thrust into a sort of shameful nomadic existence for weeks on end.
The key questions to be answered urgently for the proud people of Guyana so rudely disrespected are: Should the Government of Guyana have stood idly by as the local cricket administration deteriorated into a sorry state of disrepair? And what will the WICB do about restoring responsible leadership in their Guyana affiliate, and when will they do it? And how influential will CARICOM’s peripheral involvement be?
After all it was the late, lamented Jamaica Prime Minister Michael Manley, who in his book – ‘The History of West Indies Cricket’ – wrote … “cricket is the most completely regional activity undertaken by the people of the member states of the Caribbean Community, CARICOM. It is also the most successful cooperative endeavour and, as such, is a constant reminder to a people of otherwise wayward insularity of the value of collaboration.”
As the state of West Indies cricket appears to be growing progressively worse, it is apposite to mention that one time powerhouse Leeward Islands Cricket that boasted the likes of Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, Richie Richardson and Curtley Ambrose, has now fallen on hard times, lurching from one ignominious defeat to the next, blamed on disorganisation and flawed management. It is prudent to eradicate the virus that could conceivably infect the body politic across the region. Meanwhile, a frustrated nation – one that has long been one of the cornerstones of West Indies cricket – waits impatiently for a kind of new year resolution.
