By Orin Davidson
If his debut performance was startlingly brilliant, Shamar Joseph’s follow-up display was mind- boggling in Australia last weekend.
In demolishing the home team’s second innings to help secure that long-sought Test match victory for West Indies Down Under, the young Guyanese fast bowler proved his first game exploits were far from flash-in-the-pan flukes.
Fast bowling is an exhilarating feature of Test cricket and adds to the compelling beauty of its longest format.
However, the specialty requires back-breaking work for success which is why Joseph’s magnificent seven-wicket haul Sunday that condemned world champions Australia to an unthinkable defeat in its mightiest of fortresses at Brisbane’s Woolloongabba (Gabba) stadium, left tongues wagging and emotions gushing.
In the end, Joseph’s series count of 13 wickets from 44.5 overs in a mere two games , ought to go down as arguably Test cricket’s best fast bowling rookie performance ever.
Yet amidst the plaudits from past star players, crediting the Guyanese for reviving the game’s longest format, being threatened by the plethora of worldwide T20 competitions, none attempted to explain the youngster’s whirlwind success.
It was moving to behold the viral video of Joseph’s compatriot and similarly loved ex player Carl Hooper’s weeping episode while commentating and world record holder Brian Lara’s joyous mood on Australian television.
They know the enormity of the task to win in Australia, given their public emotional reactions while Indian great Sachin Tendulkar, despite feeling the disappointment of his beloved team losing to England at home, couldn’t resist hailing Joseph’s feat on social media.
South African retired superstar AB de Villiers admitted shedding tears of joy on comprehending the Guyanese’s success story and tough-as-they come ex Aussie captain Steve Waugh was also full of praise while lauding Joseph’s accomplishment, stating the bowler’s feat boosted Test cricket’s image
Like all disciplines, cricket has the specially gifted types and Joseph is clearly the latest such West Indian to bless the sport.
His ferocious pace and accuracy are nigh impossible to master in two years, the time he took to rise from a tape-baller to world-beater. He didn’t need to hone his skills in junior competition to catch the eyes of former national fast bowler Kevin Darlington, who provided the opening that changed the young Berbician’s life.
As well, when Joseph’s batting is examined, there is a level of competence that’s clear to see.
He’s reminiscent of legendary fellow paceman Curtly Ambrose, who similarly burst on the scene out of nowhere with eye-popping success back in 1988
Ambrose went on to record Test bowling’s greatest single spell accomplishment with that unmatched seven wickets for one run haul against the said tough Australians there in 1993.
He ended with glowing figures of 7-25 in his 39th Test. Joseph’s 7-68 returns in comparison, in only his second game bowling with a badly injured toe, is proof of even greater potential.
Despite jollification of the pundits from Brisbane to Bombay, though the famous West Indies Gabba triumph, only tied the two-match rubber. An overall triumph would’ve been icing on the cake, but the parlous financial state of Cricket West Indies (CWI), has been a daunting prospect in the Regional team’s quest for international success.
The prospects of marginal triumphs compared to those of the Dream Team of the late 1970s and 80s, have become delusional expectations.
It is why the dysfunctional International Cricket Council (ICC), world ruling body should be spotlighted and roasted in the hot seat. Its purported development policies have been nightmarish for most members except a chosen few.
In allowing itself to be manipulated by the powerful Big Three member nations of India, Australia and England, resulting in a lamentable revenue sharing rule , the ICC has left West Indies and other small nations at the mercy of limited market share, and powerless to arrest a decline in development plans
Also, the world ruling body’s spineless handling of the spate of global T20 leagues that’s been robbing the lesser countries of key players to contest said ICC competitions is disgraceful.
Future Josephs, Ambroses and Laras of the West Indies’ world can’t be produced on worn, dead pitches and non-existent training academies.
That is the sad reality in the Region whose officials must share some of the blame for the malaise over the years.
Despite being a Region of small countries and economies, the consensus is that Governments can do more to reverse the notion of cricket being treated like a neglected stepchild.
In acknowledging Joseph’s feat in Brisbane, former West Indies paceman Ian Bishop called on CWI to engage Guyana’s Government in facilitating a good enough contract to limit the player’s expected participation in the lucrative Global T20 circuit.
Although he publicly stated his priority to West Indies representation, the Guyanese has reportedly already been snapped up by teams in Dubai and Pakistan.
Bishop’s initiative is commendable given that fast bowlers are the most vulnerable of specialists to be negatively affected by a proliferation of competition in all formats.
Overuse has ended many careers and It would be tragic if Joseph is reduced to a slower-ball type fastbowler, the main requirement in the game’s shortest format, in the near future.
At the same time urgent measures are needed to correct problems at the main Guyana facilities. The Providence Stadium’s square of pitches is much too slow to unearth more Josephs and world class batsmen.
Former star batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul made a blunt assessment a few years ago, stating that the pitches predominant sand-base characteristic, don’t produce enough pace.
With more resources available from Government circles, it wouldn’t require a rocket science- type project for such an overhaul with expert foreign involvement.
And what about the Albion Sports Complex ground? Once a mecca for the sport in Berbice which has produced Guyana’s all-time best players, and a major inspiration for those in the community there, Albion has faded into obscurity.
The resources earmarked for the planned stadium at Palmyra would be better utilized for a similar pitch upgrade there and general refurbishment, than be spent at a village with zero significance to cricket. For the most part the politics of the day can be more than annoying, but outright sickening and counterproductive.
Any National Sports Policy, so long promised, must include funding for facility building and competitors, especially in those non- cricket disciplines, struggling to build professional careers.
As things stand development of the kind, to produce, more world class types, in Joseph’s mold , wouldn’t be had with mere lip service.