West Indies Cricket – Déjà vu

It is easy for us to become resigned to our faith of being perpetual losers. For that is what the West Indies Cricket team has brought us to think of our selves.

The recent One-Day Series successes against India gave the signal that the Windies were perhaps back on curve and had found the recipe to overcome the losing streak. And even as the situation appeared firmly in control last Tuesday morning in the Tri Nation match against World Champions Australia, there was the lingering shadow that it could always be dashed. But no one ever dreamt that the capitulation would have been so dramatic.{{more}}

To have faltered so dismally put another dagger in the heart of the cricket fans who out of sheer pride, maintain their support for the Windies team.

We seemed to have suffered from lack of self-belief, or could it be another case of nerves or inferiority.

West Indies overwhelmed

It seemed that the West Indies players were overwhelmed by a more brash Australian approach.

With all the big name stars known for their immense potential who have been on our team over the years, it might have been assumed that the Caribbean players would have reached the level of equality on the field of play.

In the last FIFA World Cup, Trinidad and Tobago showed the entire world that a small nation could make it on the world stage.

The cricket squad is supposed to have been imbued with a higher quality, given the combination of talent and the convergence of cultures, which mark the regional outfit.

But there is the enigma that continues to haunt us.

Our cricket team remains the shining symbol of regional unity. And when such devastating impact is allowed to descend upon us, it leaves the entire nation with a void of uncertainty and fuels the suggestion among pessimists, that the Caribbean is not equipped to handle any modern challenges.

This laissez-faire attitude must not be allowed to stamp itself as the hallmark of the region. The recent debacle of that defeat by Australia has exposed us to another example of our fragile psychological nature.

All is not lost

With the ICC cricket World Cup on the cards for Caribbean soil starting in March, fans were hoping for a gradual build up to some level of momentum. The aspirations were high that the Windies would have been able to put up a good showing, and make the competition worthy of having a tropical setting.

But all is not lost. Even in that very Tri-Nation series. For the West Indies have proven themselves capable of rebounding from whatever depths.

There is also the ICC Champions trophy, which we have to defend. But we have to first qualify.

It was a bitter pill for us to swallow following that tragic loss. There is a saying that it does not matter whether you win or lose but how you play the game.

That might be some consolation, if we had played a better game. But also some may say that it certainly matters more when you win. For in some person’s philosophy wining is all that matters.

So we just can’t continue to throw away matches like that. Some degree of common sense ought to be applied to the approach to the task at hand, and our cricketers have to think seriously that the fans at home are following their fortunes or misfortunes as the case may be. It normally sinks deep in the heart when such blatant disregard for our sanity is allowed to swamp the region like a deluge of gloom.

But then it is our squad and the nightmares have to end.