For the true cricket lover, the game is unthinkable without taking into account the dignified presence and majestic contribution of several champions from the West Indies across eras. Even in these T20 times, individual performers from the Caribbean continue to enthral us, while contributing towards their franchises' success and folklore across different leagues, and enriching the game’s innovation quotient.
Precisely, why the great downfall of West Indian cricket over the years seems like a Greek tragedy of epic proportions. No matter which country you belong to, you are deeply pained by the misfortune {provided you are not a member of the PR brigade that works overtime to glorify a motley group of superstars who love to get bigger than the game and happily play to the gallery, ruthlessly ignoring those committed soldiers who go about their business with purpose and passion, devoid of theatrics and tomfoolery.}
This thought piece is not to highlight the root cause of the West Indies debacle or find easy targets to squarely place the blame on. The grand hope is to ignite ways and means towards reinstating the 24-carat West Indian glory and pride, which will in turn help world cricket move up the value chain of innovation and integrity. There’s something magical about the way West Indians play, celebrate their success, and come to terms with their failures, all of which makes cricket more enduring than what meets the eye.
The onus is on the stakeholders of West Indian cricket – politicians, bureaucrats, administrators, players, coaches, commentators, media and industry barons, and even fans and admirers to help create a conducive environment for the renaissance to take root and bear fruit. It will take a while for the Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, and the isolated islands to think as one nation at least in the context of cricket, but once they do, even sky is not the limit to reap a bumper harvest, given the sheer abundance of raw talent which can be prudently complimented by a cultivated temperament through focused interventions from experts across the globe.
They need not look far to make a decisive start – they can readily soak in the actionable insights of the great Trinidadian political activist, cultural commentator, and cricket writer C L R James who has penned a definitive primer on the hallmarks of the West Indian culture, as also a definitive guide to comprehend why and how cricket is one of the finest cultural metaphors to appreciate life in all its hues, colours, highs and lows.
To quote the author himself: "This book is neither cricket reminiscences nor autobiography. It poses the question What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?"
A poignant narration of the author's formative years in Tunapuna covers his modest but well-informed upbringing in a cultured family, as also thrilling cricketing exploits as a country bumpkin who internalised a Puritan code of conduct on the field, which meant never appealing for a decision unless he thought the batsman was out, never arguing with the umpire, and never jeering at a defeated opponent.
Moving forward, we are greeted with excellent tributes to the stalwarts of the game including fast bowler George John from Saint Vincent; flamboyant batsman Wilton H. St Hill; cricketer, lawyer, politician and dear friend Learie Nicholas Constantine; contemporary of Sir Don Bradman George Alphonso Headley; legendary Barbadian Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell, father of cricket W. G. Grace, Jubilee Book author and leg glance artist Ranjitsinhji, 100-before-lunch fame Victor Trumper, and prolific all rounder C. B. Fry.
The book is a treasure trove of information about a whole lot – class divide, apartheid, political activism and the author’s time in England (primarily London) and the United States - but for cricketers and cricket lovers who are often not holistic enough in their approach to grasp anything beyond 22 yards, there are rich insights on the art and science of cricket including a neat account of the West Indian cricket from 1900 onwards, as also of English cricket from 1860 onwards.
Recalling a few thought gems which call for deep reflection ahead of desperate reproduction:
“Cricket is first and foremost a dramatic spectacle. It belongs with the theatre, ballet, opera and the dance. Its quality as drama is more specific. It is so organized that at all times it is compelled to reproduce the central action which characterizes all good drama from the days of the Greeks to our own: two individuals are pitted against each other in a conflict that is strictly personal but no less strictly representative of a social group. One individual batsman faces one individual bowler. But each represents his side. The personal achievement may be of the utmost competence or brilliance. Its ultimate value is whether it assists the side to victory or staves off defeat.”
“The spontaneous outburst of thousands at a fierce hook or a dazzling slip-catch, the ripple of recognition at a long-awaited leg-glance, are as genuine and deeply felt expressions of artistic emotion as any I know.”
“The ultimate greatness of a bowler is in his head. He has a series of methods of attack at his command, but where he pitches any ball and the ball following, where he delivers one and from where he delivers another, where he quickens the pace and where he slows it down, this is the result of a psychological sensitivity and response to a particular batsman at a particular time on a particular wicket at a particular stage in the game.”
“Any cricketer who thinks for a moment can see the enormous change W.G. introduced into the game. I hold him to be, not only the finest player born or unborn, but the maker of modern batting. He turned the old one-stringed instrument into a many-chorded lyre. And, in addition, he made his execution equal his invention. All of us now have the instrument, but we lack his execution. It is not that we do not know, but that we cannot perform. Before W.G. batsmen did not know what could be made of batting. The development of bowling has been natural and gradual; each great bowler has added his quota. W.G. discovered batting; he turned its many narrow straight channels into one great winding river.”
“The achievements of athletes in recent years which have so astonished the world are not as great as so many people imagine that they are. None of them is anywhere near the ultimate limits. By far the most important part of a great performance is played by the mind. Once the athlete is convinced that the prevailing standards are not high, and that improving upon them is a not very difficult task, he will crack them. Long hours of training are not in the least necessary.”
“Some young Romantic will extend the boundaries of cricket technique with a classical perfection. He will hit against the break so hard and so often that the poor bowlers will wish he would go back to hitting with it. He will drive overhead and push through any number of short-legs, as W.G. used to do, so that a whole race of bowlers will go underground for fifteen years as they did once, and once more emerge with new tricks.”
More about C.L.R. James at https://www.marxists.org/archive/james-clr/index.htm
PS: While in London C. L. R. James attended several meetings of the India League. He was a friend of Balkrishna Gupta, an Indian Trotskyist. Records make a passing mention of his accommodation on Boundary Road, London shared with Ajit Mookerjie, a law student at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the year 1938.
I had no idea which Boundary Road to visit, en route my search for some landmark linked to James, and made a wayward trip to three different places Camden, Wimbledon, and St Johns Wood, only to return home feeling like an absolute fool; a real estate agent standing outside his sprawling office on St Johns Wood tried to lure me into buying a 'to let' property valued at a whopping £8,25,000, mistaking me for a property buyer (with deep pockets possibly) given my inquisitive eyes. Needless to say, I tried my best not to let beads of sweat form on my forehead at the mere mention of the price tag.
