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sandy
The flimsiest of foundations
By Will last year, mid-February, 5 Comments »
I’m still feeling slightly euphoric and exhilarated, which are two adjectives no cricket fan could describe themselves after a day of unprecedented farce. As I’m in the fortunate position of being able to cover such chaos, today has been hugely fun: exciting, depressing in parts, even quite funny and a joy to report on. But it’s a feeling of detached delirium – how in the name of the three Ws, and Sir Viv, could this possibly have happened?
Sand stops play. It’s such a feeble, flimsy excuse on the surface (or, rather, just beneath the surface), yet we all take for granted that the green grass will be sufficiently thick to allow size sixteen boots, attached to sixteen-stone athletes, the cushioning and traction required for bowling. Without that, the game can’t happen. It’s like asking a pole-vaulter to do his stuff with a stick made from paper mache.
Just when we thought West Indies cricket was on the up after that sensational fourth day in Kingston, it regresses back to the laughing stock on which much of its administration is based. North Sound – the ground named in honour of Sir Viv – isn’t fit to host an execution let alone a Test match lasting five days. You could count the number of locals at the ground on two hands. They hate it. It’s a disgrace to the country, an embarrassment to the passion and soul of the West Indies’ supporters and a reprehensible waste of money.
Sir Viv later said: “This is not shooting me in the foot. This is shooting me straight through the heart.” That his name should be associated with such a contemptible construction does everyone in the region a huge, horrible, crying disservice. The ground is everything he is not: crass, ugly, broken, embarrassing and dishonourable.
Vaneisa Baksh, a fine Caribbean-based cricket writer and historian, popped up on messenger during the chaos and sounded almost in tears. Likewise, a friend in Jamaica asked simply: “Why now?” That the Test was ever allowed to take place is just one awful blot on the WICB’s ink-sodden copybook. But that it should happen days after the Caribbean’s brightest moment for a decade is a wound which will take a long time to heal.
Organisations and cricket administrations, like the grounds at which their product should be on glorious display, need sturdier foundations than sand.
Oh – and read this. We found an insider (or rather, Caribbeancricket did. But we’re all friends in cricket land).
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