“Caribbean successes going north!”

Sep 01, 2013 Sports

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Colin E. H. Croft
If you worked at Guyana’s Timehri International Airport, now renamed Dr Cheddi Jagan International Airport, late 1970’s early 1990’s, as I did; 1973 to 1981; as Assistant Air Traffic Control Officer, even as I played cricket for West Indies, you must have heard these words, loud and clear, from those gathered:

“Ahwe bhay ah guh narth, tuh Tarantah and ‘Mericah, suh dat he cud look fuh he futuah!”
Entire villages, every inhabitant, from as far east as Crabwood Creek and Skeldon, which, for the un-informed, is on the very border between Guyana and Suriname, would travel by busses, a one-way trip of at least seven hours, to get to the international airport, to see just one young man or young woman, mostly young men, leaving Guyana for supposedly better things in Canada or United States of America.
This happened religiously every Sunday morning for the years I was there!
Pan American, BWIA (Caribbean Airlines), BOAC (British Airways), Antillean Airlines (KLM), even Cubana Airlines, always left Runway 05, now 06, so laden that their pilots had to use every metre to get the lumbering giants airborne!
Incidentally, most of the then departed did make exceptionally “good futures”, educationally and economically, and are now returning to Guyana in droves, these last several years, bringing enterprise  and severe monies back to the very present of the “Land of Rivers and Plains”.
How else can it be suggested that Guyanese, travelling in any direction, provide at least one-third of Caribbean Airlines’ overall income?  That is not far from the truth!
But this is not about those who had gone “in the cold’ or even relative warmth of Florida back then.
This is about recent successes of almost everything West Indies, evolving north to……………Jamaica!
Timing is normally everything for major successes, that vital key, but without even minute insularity, which I never am, the gradual change must have been noticed.
So far, to be honest, everything has come up trumps since the metamorphosis has taken roots.
The always warring factions of the past that were West Indies Players Association and West Indies Cricket Board are now very close personal friends, even producing, recently, the first “joint” awards ceremony.
The earlier 2013 tours of the Caribbean by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were massive successes, financially and logistically, while the recently concluded Limacol Caribbean Premier League far outshone all expectations, even, hopefully, bringing back some extremely long lost unity to all Caribbean people.
The wand of control and progress of West Indies cricket, on the field of play, is slowly, definitely, deliberately, shifting northwards, to that country that produced the incomparable Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley, Norman and Michael Manley, Paul Bogle, and Usain Bolt, all of whom nothing more can be said!
Even Trinidad & Tobago’s Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan, commenting on the recent crime wave that seems to be eating away at the very soul and fabric of T&T, engineered a suggestion that, maybe, T&T should be like Jamaica, and at least consider re-introducing hanging, so prevalent has crime become!
The running of West Indies cricket, off the field, has already been removed from the south, when especially Trinidad & Tobago, even Barbados and Windward Islands, controlled fully.

West Indies Players Association, for so long not only led, but almost single-handedly managed, by T&T’s Dinanath Ramnarine, is now led by the former West Indies opener Wavell Hinds.  The President of West Indies Cricket Board is Whycliffe “Dave” Cameron.  WICB’s Chief Executive Officer is Michael Muirhead.
They are all undoubtedly, wholly West Indians, but also, initially, and always too, Jamaicans!
Yes, cricket-wise, Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana have been the only Caribbean representatives at Champions League T-20s.  Indeed, reconvened “Red Force” has just named its final squad for 2013 CLT20.
Also, T&T has won both Under-15 and Under-17 tournaments this year.
But, look out, Jamaica won the West Indies Under-19 tournament, a tournament that, I believe, that is much more useful at identifying and focusing on the very future of our international players.
After all, anyone could have known that players like Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shiv Chanderpaul, Joel Garner and Michael Holding, to name a few, would have all played for senior West Indies, based on performances as “Youth” cricketers.
Lo and behold, the Jamaican Ladies have also won West Indies Women’s main Tournament for the very first time, defeating their normal nemeses, Trinidad & Tobago.
The Stefanie Taylor-led team have gone where no other Jamaican Women’s Cricket team has ever gone before, continuing the swinging trend!
Additional mention of Jamaica’s female track successes would be superfluous!
Then, to confirm and make things concrete, the magnificent all-around opener, Christopher Henry Gayle, who, cricket-wise, must be on par with compatriot “Usain” – no last name necessary these days – led an enterprising team to win the inaugural Limacol Caribbean Premier League.
Look out too for players like Andre Russell making tremendous re-emergences, to be, again, on par, and included in reckonings, with Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy or Kieron Pollard.
Sometimes, run of the green works.  From the north, it runs black, green and gold!  Enjoy!

 

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