The Caribbean Dictionary online defines ‘bazodee’ as, among other things, being dumbfounded, dazed or stunned. One can become ‘bazodee’ by running or riding a bicycle in small circles at a fast rate. The result of this discombobulating activity is one of extreme dizziness, complete – albeit temporary – disorientation of one’s direction and lack of control over one’s limbs, akin to being in a drunken stupor.
Over the past few weeks, West Indies cricket fans have been fluctuating between flashbacks of the glory days which only served to spawn bouts of severe depression, and being ‘bazodee’, more so whenever someone mentions the current Cricket West Indies (CWI) administration.
Last Thursday, 5th October, the 13th edition of the ICC Men’s World Cup (One Day Inter-national [ODI] version) kicked off in India, and the West Indies, the team which captured the trophy on the first two occasions, is conspicuous by its absence. How can there be a World Cup without the West Indies team? Can one imagine FIFA having a World Cup without Brazil? Unthinkable as it is, the stark reality is that the former giants of the game, their swagger long lost, their exuberance vastly diminished and their confidence totally shot, have been reduced to the embarrassing role of spectators. Meanwhile, the likes of Afghanistan and the Netherlands, non-traditional cricketing territories, are rubbing shoulders with the ‘big boys’ of international cricket today: India, Australia, New Zealand, England and Pakistan.
Positive thinkers (CWI included) will point out – tongue in cheek, no doubt – that there are West Indian representatives on the tournament’s officiating crew, in the form of Joel Wilson, a Trinidadian, who is currently a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, and Sir Richie Richardson, former West Indies captain who is presently an International Match Referee. Or, to the fact that our absence is just an anomaly, and we will be participating in the next major tournament, the ICC 2024 T20 World Cup, surreptitiously omitting the salient fact that we have automatically ‘qualified’ as the tournament’s hosts. Indeed, it’s the saddest state of affairs.
If West Indies cricket fans were hoping that CWI would have appointed a special taskforce of former successful players to scout the World Cup and prepare a report of their findings on the key areas where the region’s game can be upgraded to the present day ODI standards, they can forgo such highfalutin thoughts. It would have become just another untouched wasted tome of paper, joining the ever-growing pile of unopened governance reports in mint condition gathering dust.
Last Sunday, West Indies fans – and hopefully the present players – were reduced to witnessing in admiration India’s brave recovery from the hopelessness of being three wickets down for two runs in reply to Australia’s 199, to winning by six wickets with 8.4 overs to spare, and reflecting on past West Indies feats of similar circumstances. What was CWI doing? Quarrelling among themselves in a public forum. The latest incidents of internal bickering serve to provide further insight as to the narrow-minded whirlpool claiming to be developing West Indies cricket.
On Friday, in the sports section of this publication there was a report on a brewing dispute between the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and CWI concerning the election of the CWI Vice President Azim Bassarath to the post at the last CWI Annual General Meeting on the 25th March, 2023 at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua. In a recent letter to the CWI, the GCB questioned the legality of Bassarath’s election, six months after the fact. The GCB stated that it had withdrawn its nomination of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board president prior to the election in writing “at the subject [AGM] meeting”, and since two nominations were required, his election to the position was null and void. It added, “That the process was allowed to continue constitutes, in our opinion, a flawed and illegal election of Mr Bassarath.”
The CWI in its reply to the GCB, stated that it stood by the validity of Bassarath’s election to the post, which was “fair and transparent”, and held in accordance with the Memorandum and Articles of Association of CWI. A virtual meeting between the two organisations on the 21st September failed to resolve the matter, and the GCB, adamant that Mr Bassarath must demit office, has written to the CWI demanding the vice president’s resignation, and should there be non-compliance within 14 days of the request, the board will resort to legal recourse.
In another development over the weekend, Bassarath, in an interview on i95.5 FM radio station in Trinidad, questioned statements uttered by Mr Conde Riley, a Barbados representative on the CWI, on 26th September on the popular weekly Barbadian cricket radio Talk Show Mason and Guest. Riley purportedly stated that he was in possession of documents in which the ICC had awarded the rights for the 2024 T20 World Cup Final to Barbados. Bassarath said he was unaware of any such declarations and the ICC was due to announce the allocation of matches in early November. On Monday, the news broke that CWI President Dr Kishore Shallow in a strongly worded letter had reprimanded Riley, the President of the Barbados Cricket Association for “serious breach of trust” and bringing “the entire CWI organisation into disrepute.” In the letter, Shallow outlined a number of issues which he stated reflected poorly on Riley’s stewardship, and urged him to familiarise himself with Article 51 of the Memorandum and Articles of Association of CWI and the code of ethics for the board of directors. West Indies cricket fans will clearly remember Riley’s irate response, in August, 2020, to the just presented Wehby Report on Governance Reform of West Indies Cricket, about Barbados setting up a “powerhouse committee to do urgent surgery on it.”
So as Rome burned and Nero played the fiddle, or in this instance, as the CWI Board members bickered among themselves, West Indies cricket fans, ‘bazodee’ from all the rhetoric and wondering how on earth the CWI intends to revive our cricket, will have to settle for enjoying the action of the 2023 ICC World Cup on their television sets and phones.
