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One more time for Tony Cozier!

May 14, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

“Out! Gone! Well, there you have it! Lillee caught Willy bowled Dilley!”
These were some of the most memorable lines in the history of cricket commentary. Tony Cozier, who died this week at the age of 75, had the honour of being at the mic and to have uttered these famous words.
A few years ago, I saw Joseph ‘Reds’ Pereira giving a young man a few tips about the art of radio commentating. It was quite an experience to witness ‘Reds’ doing this because the standard of radio commentating that he exemplified is a lost art today.
There was a time when there was fierce debate in Guyana as to who was the better commentator, ‘Reds’ or Tony Cozier. Both men made cricket come alive in your imagination. The way they described each ball, each shot and the actions of those on and off the field, made you feel, sitting on your couch at 2am, listening to Test match coverage from Australia that you were at the ground.
This was long before there was television coverage in the Caribbean. The entire Caribbean depended on these doyens of radio to describe and to analyze what was going on in the field. They educated a generation of West Indians about the greats of West Indian and world cricket.
I always grudgingly thought that Tony was shade better than ‘Reds’. I wanted Reds to be better because he was a Pomeroon man. But Tony, in my estimation, had this mellifluous voice. That was one of his strengths. ‘Reds’ had his own strengths. He could hold you in suspense with every ball.
He would transfer the tension in the ground right into your living rooms.
Reds was a natural. He learnt his craft by simply commentating. Tony on the other hand was a trained journalist who came from a family which had its origins in the newspaper industry.
Tony was a top class journalist, not just on cricket but on other topics.  He was a brilliant writer.
I always wondered why the Guyana Press Association never invited Tony Cozier to lecture to the local media fraternity about journalism. Perhaps, like most people, they presumed that he was only a cricket commentator.
Tony was more than simply a cricket commentator. He was passionate about West Indies cricket. No one was pained by the decline in West Indies cricket than Tony Cozier. No one was more authoritative on West Indian cricket than Tony.
I have seen young cricketers still in their cricketing bibs, but making a great deal of money, try to disrespect Tony Cozier. If they only knew what West Indian cricket meant to him and the service he provided for almost sixty years to West Indian cricket, they would bow their heads in shame.
They do not know the history of West Indian cricket. They do not appreciate the role that radio played in the development of cricket consciousness in the West Indies. Tony Cozier was part of that development. He helped to shape that consciousness.
Radio is now all entertainment. There was a time when radio was rational. There was time when it was used to unite the people of the Caribbean. Tony was an integral part of radio and the old timers would know of his role in radio.
Tony was also a publisher.  The best publication on West Indian cricket was the West Indies Cricket Annual which was produced, for many years, by Tony Cozier. If you have any of those annuals they would be worth a fortune today.
I asked Ron Robinson, the new programme manager of the National Communication Network (NCN), to dig into the archives of the radio and unearth some of the old commentaries of Tony. I hope those tapes have not been destroyed.
Let us hear the smooth voice of Tony Cozier, one last time.

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