ST. LUCIA: Travelling through the West Indies for the last few days, one felt there was a sense of hope developing among those who still care for cricket in this part of the world. Be it in conversations with the cab driver or a new acquaintance in the roadside bar or the fisherman taking you out for a boat ride on the
Caribbean
sea, everyone felt there was a chance for the West Indies.
It wasn’t exactly a chest-thumping super-confidence that the world is all theirs, but a ray of hope that this World Cup might be the start of a cricketing revival in the region. However, that wasn’t to be.
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West Indies flattered for a while, only to deceive at the end in a virtual quarterfinal with South Africa in the 'Super 8s' clash.
Gregory, a man in his 40s donning a Barcelona shirt in a small town called Soufriere, near the active volcano in the Piton Mountains in St. Lucia says: “It’s hard times man. My football team (Barca) isn’t the team I knew anymore. Was hoping West Indies will play you guys in the semis or final, that’s also not happening.”
Cricket in the West Indies has been in perpetual decline over the last two decades. The national team doesn’t win enough to get the GenNext hooked to it. Being unable to qualify for the ODI World Cup last year was the nadir. Still, you can feel a genuine love for the sport.
At the roadside bars during the famous Friday street party in St. Lucia, it was cricket that was being played on the TVs as Indian fans mingled in with the locals, shaking their leg to some reggae beats.
Dileep, a chartered accountant in his 70s from Guyana who now lives in Canada, had flown down with his family for a vacation that included cricket in this lovely island country.
“My favourite was Roy Fredericks. The way that little man used to play Dennis Lillee, my god...we don’t have such guys anymore. Still, we don’t give up hope. That’s why we still take time off from our schedules to come and watch cricket,” Dileep says, buying a fresh round of beer for 'a new friend'.
The locals in St. Lucia were slightly more expectant because the current West Indies team is being coached by a local boy Darren Sammy, the only St. Lucian who also led the country.
“His house is just around the team. We all feel proud of him. There’s a sports school, too, nearby where he has put in some effort. Just wanted his team to do well,” Terrol, who runs a bed and breakfast by Rodney Bay, said the other day.
A meaningful performance in this T20 World Cup would probably have reignited the passion among the youth who have more in life “than rooting for a losing team”. But during the course of this World Cup, West Indies did show glimpses and skipper Rovman Powell urged the fans not to turn their backs despite the soul-crunching defeat.
“We are disappointed because we thought we had the personnel within our room to actually win a home World Cup. But having said that, we have played good cricket, we have entertained them in patches, and it’s just for them to keep on supporting us. How important the support is in whatever you do. So, I would implore them to just
keep on working with us, keep on supporting us over the last 12 months,” Powell said, mentioning that for the first time West Indies have been ranked No. 3 in the world in T20Is.
But is it enough to keep the fans who need that sense of a victory to keep them going after a hard day’s work? We will see.
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