Dear Editor,
So many of us are powerless that every now and again we should ask the powerful to consider occasionally the passage in an ancient book that reads:
“For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’”
Must WI cricket fans listen every night to an all Australian crew of broadcasters (Mark Nicholas, an Englishman, resides in Australia)? Why is it that no WI broadcaster is allowed to use the Australian facilities to bring some cricket news to West Indians. For myself I turn down the volume or do without the audio completely.
The biggest disappointment on the third day of the second test came from the dismissal of Darren ‘Lara’ almost at tea for 81. The young man again demonstrated why those who know the game think so much of him. Jomel Warrican has not yet been out in a Test on this tour. You can tell that he has the calmness of personality and the technique to bat for a fair length of time. He could have accompanied Darren, not only for Darren to get his 100, but for the team to reach 300, and to bat beyond tea to eat up more time.
My second biggest disappointment was the dismissal of Carlos Brathwaite in the last over before lunch by Lyons, whom I liked when he was selected from the ground staff at Adelaide to play for his country. He was a ‘natural’, the type we described as ‘park boys’ in my youth. He was a modest young man. When he dismissed Braithwaite and waved him off, Lyons became to me just another arrogant Australian cricketer. But it was a good ball, and forced the batsman to give it back to him, almost the way he did with Blackwood.Brathwaite, Roach, Taylor and Warrican demonstrated that the lower order can make a decent contribution to the batting. Chandrika again impressed me as a fellow who plays with a straight bat, and opener Brathwaite will not fail in the next innings. He now knows how he gets out with both types of bowling.
All in all, it was not a bad day of batting, and those of us who watched the Australians carefully would have noticed how quickly they get nervous when they feel some real resistance. WI bowling was not good after tea and Khawaja is better than Warner.
I end by warning WI fans that if you believe the failure of your players is caused by lack of commitment, you will be reluctant to recognize their need for help, and thereby relieve the administration from their obligations. I think we should think not only of the greatness of our past players, but also how those they humiliated dealt with their problem. It never occurred to them that their players were losing because they were lazy and lacked commitment. How many sportsmen have you met who do not want and try to win?
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
