I don’t get golf, and never did. People say that’s because I never played the game. They say that to be out there in those beautiful settings, facing the challenge of this most unnatural of sports (hitting a ball into a hole with a stick), learning the subtle techniques involved, generates a passion for the activity that stays with people all their lives. I accept that as true, but I still don’t get golf. Curling, same thing; my West Demerara blood’s too thin for that. Rock climbing is another one. I’m terrified of heights. I figure if God wanted me to climb sheer rock walls, he would have given me webbed feet, suction cups on both hands, at least four arms, and definitely wings. But I love T20 cricket, and currently the Caribbean Premier League just concluded in St Kitts after a highly successful tournament.
The Test match devotees will be at me again, but the jury is in on this one, and the general feeling seems to be that the CPL was a lot of good, some definite bad, and even a bit of ugly. On the good side, this short version of the game has revitalized cricket at a time when, England and Australia aside, Test cricket is in deep trouble. T20 is action from the first ball (no half an hour “settling in” here), emphasizing scoring (which people love), produces some unbelievable acrobatics in stopping boundaries and catching (which people love) because of the importance of a single run, generates some of the most thrilling endings in the final overs such as 42 to win in 20 balls (which people love), and the whole deal is over in three hours and the family is headed home. That’s another key: T20 is drawing the whole family, from grandma