A YEAR that began in turmoil ended in turmoil for West Indies cricket. It’s a recurring refrain.
The repeated squabbles between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) were previously the reasons. They led to strikes by the leading players in 2005 and 2009 and threats of strikes on an almost monthly basis.
The earlier strikers have either gone into peaceful retirement or to whatever widespread, lucrative T20 league they can find. The new disruptive disturbances now involve different characters, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the selectors, the head coach and, ultimately, Caribbean Community (Caricom) governments. Throughout, WICB president Dave Cameron has been to the forefront, ruling his organisation with an autocratic rod, living up to his defiant dictum: “They’ve criticised you. They’ve doubted you. They’ve lied on you. They’ve done all they can do, but one thing they can’t do is stop you.”
In all the chaos, there were certain points, not all negative, that attracted my attention.
BEST TEST WIN: Options are limited to the only one but the three-day, come-from-behind triumph by five wickets over England in the third test at Kensington Oval in early May that levelled the three match series was one to savour, especially after incoming England’s board chief Colin Graves’ dismissal of the West Indies as ‘a mediocre’ team.
BEST INNINGS: Jason Holder’s unbeaten, match-saving 103 in the opening Test against England in Antigua. His first Test hundred confirmed earlier evidence of his batting ability; as much as anything else, its maturity prompted the selectors to
