Two out of three!
The maths add up to a very successful season for Barbados in regional cricket. An opportunity to compete for a third title was denied when the team lost to Jamaica by one wicket.
It turned out to be a period where everything looked possible for a country noted, particularly in earlier times, for its dominance in regional cricket without equal.
Barbados have just notched their 22nd championship by retaining the President’s Cup.
We might want to believe that normal service has been resumed after Jamaica became the dominant force in the previous four years.
Some, even our opponents, might see this as a good omen because according to the old saying “When Barbados’ cricket is strong, West Indies’ cricket is strong.”
Realistically, we need some work to get back to the top of the international ratings and there are some promising Bajan prospects who might be good enough to help them get there.
Another retrospective fact is that teams rose to the occasion and lifted their game when they met Barbados. We were the ultimate challenge and if a team’s only victory was against us they may have felt contented even though they didn’t win the championship.
We were also the gauge for testing the readiness of players for the West Indies team. An outstanding performance against Barbados put you on the selectors’ short list.
Most importantly, cricketing success made us very proud as a people because cricketers were used as mirrors of who we are and what we could produce as a small island nation.
I can’t be certain if this model pertains with the scrutiny of the past but Bajans can still be heard boasting about the strength of our cricket when we excel.
I was part of a conversation on Saturday in Independence Square at the Clement Payne presentation to honour the literary great, Kamau Brathwaite, and some contended that Barbados’ recent defeat to Jamaica was like a victory considering the small target set, Jamaica’s overnight position and that Barbados almost got to the tape first!
I might add that Winston Farrell’s dramatisation of a cricket piece written by Brathwaite was high among the works that stirred the crowd.
Yes, despite the peaks and valleys we have experienced parochially, regionally and internationally in recent times, cricket, of all sports, still tugs at our emotions at will as if we are her puppets on strings.
This seems to put a terminal burden on Bajan players in particular to be competitive at a minimum and to win something at a maximum every season there is regional cricket.
To do otherwise, means that all who are connected to the team – the board, the selectors, the coach, the players – can expect a verbal blistering on call-in radio programmes and possibly some form of harassment if they are seen on the streets.
Honestly, that kind of reaction could have come into play this season because nobody was sure how the team would perform with two new captains in place.
There was some negative feedback when the successful captain in last year’s President’s Cup, Kirk Edwards, was replaced in both forms of the game.
Kevin Stoute was appointed for the 50 overs and Kraigg Brathwaite for the four-day. There was reasonable doubt as first-timers about the kind of support they would receive from the team as a whole and from senior players in particular.
After all, Stoute, for reasons best known to the selectors, was given raw deals in previous seasons, while Brathwaite, though one for the future in the West Indies full-time set-up, is youthful and leading his country for the first time at senior level.
I wrote then that despite these factors, Bajans would expect them to lead successfully.
It is to their credit that both performed their duties manfully and Barbados won the NAGICO Super 50 under Stoute’s guidance and the four-day President’s Cup with Brathwaite at the helm.
Observing from beyond the boundary, I got the impression that team spirit was extremely high and they played as a united force in both competitions.
There is perhaps a lesson for the national psyche to import from this in the midst of our current economic woes if we still use cricket as a compass for which direction we should go in.
I was very impressed, too, with the character and professionalism shown by Edwards, who proved that he didn’t have to be the leader to make a meaningful input for the team.
There was noted improvement in the aptitude of Ashley Nurse as an all-rounder and Suleiman Benn showed that he’s still the ultimate warrior and deserves a recall to the West Indies team. Shane Dowrich did his credentials no harm and Jonathan Carter can deliver the goods when he’s on song.
Good management is also vital to success in a team setting, so they must also get their credit.
The moral in all of this is if we work together, anything is possible.
Figures don’t lie.
• Andi Thornhill is an experienced, award-winning sports journalist.