Dear Editor,
Both Mark Nicholas and Dave Cameron have had things to say recently. Mr Cameron tweeted on Mr Cozier and Mr Nicholas commented, “West Indies are short of brains, but have IPL history in their ranks.”
It does seem that Mr Cameron almost invariably says or tweets the wrong things, and most right thinking fans would like to be rid of him. I no longer, however, have much interest in the law, which is naturally, much more complicated than laypeople tend to think, and defamation laws tend to be in the realm of the very complicated. But, I am very interested in cricket, which I understand very well, and have great affection for West Indian cricketers even when they are not doing very well. I tend to be loyal and remember when West Indian cricketers made West Indians very proud and happy. That is why I am much less interested in Cozier v Cameron which I understand is to be litigated in the courts, than I am in West Indies v Nicholas which ought to be fought in the even more public arena of the media.
I believe Mr Nicholas has gone too far in his attacks on, and insults of, West Indian cricketers. He will say, of course, he had no intention to hurt, and in fact his comment was made out of love for the “boys” from the Islands (which should really annoy Guyanese).
Those of you who have not attempted to comment on stuff on Cricinfo or however it is called, will be amazed at how much is censored. I tried to get in a word or two about Mr Nicholas’s comment, with predictable lack of success.
It is clear to me that Mr Nicholas’s comment was discriminatory in nature. No respectable or respected public figure makes such statements about a group. Although I hope the comment motivates the players, I really wish that influential cricket journalists, especially West Indians, will aggressively attack Nicholas in the media and go as far as considering a formal complaint to his employer or to the ICC or to whomever could effectively reprimand him.
This is 2016 and someone has to stand up for the players.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
