What about this Game? Caribbean People Still Love their Cricket
By Bille Anthony Sinclair
Everybody loves a star! In
the Caribbean people view a cricket match with an infectious spirit.
They take it seriously, and love to show their appreciation.
That’s right! West Indians
get in character with fully formed, fully realized expectations
for cricket. When a bowler and batsman go at it, the electricity
charges through air with enough energy to singe your soul. Cricket,
Caribbean style, is a community affair. No matter which teams
are locked into a grueling contest, the vibe is always same. What
we witness is a romance of controlled insanity. And frenzied fans
make a big day of it.
 Devotees
spend the day laughing, singing, as well as sharing sumptuous
portions of food and all manner of drink concoctions. With tall
tales, they recount legendary feats of their favorite players,
and sagas of matches from times gone by. It’s pure camaraderie
and just plain fun.
Unfortunately, the harsh imposition
of ICC rules and regulations has dampened the spirit of many Caribbean
people for World Cup cricket. In the last few years, international
competition has burdened the game with sobriety and formality.
As a result, many have complained that revenues from hotels, car
rentals, restaurants, clubs, and other related tourist industries
have suffered steep declines in proportion to the sagging interest
in cricket.
But true cricket enthusiasts—and they
are many—have never lost that passion for the sport. Ultimately,
though, it’s those phenomenal performances which raise the
body heat of the fans. Cricket delivers well-crafted athletic adventure,
the stuff of champions. You know it’s off the charts when
a dense silence pervades the crowd. Like the day when the great
Shiv Chanderpaul met an untimely challenge.
After sustaining a noxious whack on the head
during play on May 25, 2007, Shiv went into temporary paralysis.
“I didn’t know where I was, my entire body was numb,”
he related to the Australian. But he knew that if he left the field,
the result would’ve been disaster. A dense, breathless hush
shadowed the match in Kingston. Everyone feared the worst. Would
this injury damage a storied career?
Chanderpaul was on 86 and his team had 276
for 8. If there was any time a miracle was in order, it was at that
compelling moment. But miracles do happen.
Shiv rose from the ground, shook off the
pain, gathered his wits—and signaled to the medical team that
he was ready to go again. He rallied his team to finish with a 118,
while his comrades added 36 to advance on the Australians.
This is the kind of pluck, the kind of raw
grit that West Indians have come to expect of its players. With
heroics like this, “cricket people” will always come
back for more.
(Bille Anthony Sinclair is a
contributor to Island Vibes Magazine. For comments, please feel free to
contact him at bille@islandvibesmag.com.)
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