Dear Editor,
Immediately preceding this series the Australian board fought with its cricketers, and the Indian cricketers, normally burdened by Pakistan`s greater motivation to beat India than India`s motivation to defeat Pakistan, had to deal with the additional stress of having such a serious dispute with their board that there was some doubt as to whether they would participate in the competition.
In consequence of Australia`s moderate strength it was easy to predict their early elimination. It was more difficult to predict India`s loss, because they are a strong team,; yet their defeat in yesterday’s final to Pakistan was surely not especially difficult to predict. My suspicion is that not a lot of betting money would be made on the final. The important point to be made here, generally poorly understood, but less by some countries than by others, is that the mental element involved in the game of cricket is, at least as important, as the physical, and that administrations must pay much more attention to it. My main cricket interest being West Indian, I hope our administrators can learn this important principle and apply it to all aspects of their work.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
