Islands apart?

Given how provocative just the utterance is,it is possible that Forbes Persaud was overstating the ultimatum. As chief executive of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board,he said this week that if West Indies cricket failed to organise itself better,his team would withdraw from the Windies squad and field its own national team. The many crises of Windies cricket — of organisation,funds,and morale — came humiliatingly together this season with a home Test series loss to Bangladesh. That the best players were not playing because of a contractual dispute does not mitigate widespread exasperation. Because,as Persaud would probably say,that is proof that matters are being terribly handled.

But does he know what he dares to imagine! It is easy to argue that at non-cricket venues — in football,in the Olympics — the islands of the Caribbean compete as separate teams. Of course,we know they are sovereign entities,possessed of their currencies and elected rulers. And that the West Indies Federation proved a non-starter even in those heady days of national awakening in the late ’50s and early ’60s. So what’s special about cricket,especially to those of us not fortunate enough to live on the palm-treed beaches painted on the Windies flag,that a group of countries,some of them still British dependencies,play for a different flag?

There is,of course,the history of Windies cricket. Even before and after the ‘70s and ‘80s domination of international cricket,the team has given the game some of its iconic players. It is also that,in the Windies,cricket provided an alternative way for territories to regroup. Especially amidst the charged jingoism of today’s accelerated cricket,that is a valuable counter.