What a Christmas it would have been

Dec 28, 2019 Editorial

Santa is a little light this year, and he didn’t get it right either. What a Christmas present it would have been! Still, a cheer, a hearty round of applause is due for the fellas. Thanks for the effort, the hope springs.
Though there was falling short by a whisker, there is a team now firmly in place that should be able to challenge the bigger boys.
The minnows almost beat the mighty, and in their own backyard, too. That is not easy to accomplish on the tailor-made tracks of the continent, and with a zillion chanting, screaming fans adding to the electricity of an already supercharged playing atmosphere.
At Cuttack, last Sunday, the West Indies made India sweat, even squirm, a bit in the series decider. It was a tight one, and could have gone either way, until a man named Virat Kohli put on the afterburners and shut the door tight.
For its part, the West Indies had Pollard and Pooran, the former the proven veteran, the latter proving himself with every knock that he belongs, that he can contribute and that, in time, he is going to be feared.
There is a pack of young guns in the regional stable of stroke players and, more and more, run accumulators: Hetmyer from Guyana, Hope from Barbados, Lewis from Trinidad, and the previously mentioned Pooran. These players are all on the right side of twenty and in the prime of their run scoring years.
They have been exposed to quality opposition from across the cricketing globe, and keep acquiring experience in different conditions, some very demanding of both temperament and technique. They will only get better.
There is a nice squadron of fast bowlers, which is notable for its youthful flavour and vigor, and one or two with close to express pace. The Antiguan Alzarri Joseph can generate healthy speeds, if he is able to stay healthy long enough; Jamaican Sheldon Cottrell is forced to bowl smarter, with emphasis more on deception than on raw fear.
And there is skipper Jason Holder, who has blossomed in a genuine all-rounder, and a constantly improving one, too. There is hope, and that hope soared for many a tantalising hour at Cuttack on Sunday.
A little luck here and a few more runs there, and the outcome could have been different, with the tourists wearing the winners’ smiles. It was a valiant effort that must be recognised, even though it fell agonisingly short. This team’s day will come and, from all indications, it cannot be that far off. It is due some success now. And it will come.
The West Indies have had a long drought, where it has been embarrassed and humiliated over many a long year. Time for that nonsense to cease; there is too much regional pride on the line. Let it be faced: cricket is culture, cricket is religion, cricket is our history and our space and our talent and our love.
We will walk again with a swagger, with that swashbuckling arrogance that has been the hallmark of Gary Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, Roy Fredericks, Alvin Kallicharran, and Colin Croft, to name a few of our illustrious sons. It is time for resurgence, time for us to confront and conquer the Kohli(s) and Smith(s) of the world.
We must grow and gain the ascendancy, as we have the nucleus from which we can dominate. There was a time when we were feared, when we were the talk of the cricketing world. That time is now due for a return, for West Indian pride to march in stride with the glory of what was, and what can be.
Let it be. Come on fellas! Make us proud. Make us smile. Make us cheer and dance and make merry wherever we may be. It is overdue. It is now time. It is a good time.

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