FOR a competition that only began after the West Indies were first crowned world champions, the regional 50-over tournament has been nothing if not a continuous experiment.
From an inaugural low key event in 1976, when Stephen Farmer’s innings of 63 highlighted Barbados’ defeat of archrivals Trinidad and Tobago in the final at Kensington Oval, to last year’s victory by the T&T Red Force over the Barbados Pride in the decider on home soil in Port of Spain, there has hardly been a sustained period over these 41 years when organisers were not engaged in one form of tinkering or another.
Participating teams have undergone many alterations, from the traditional six territories to expansions incorporating any number of invitees ranging from English counties to developmental sides like the West Indies Under-19s this time around, to representational squads from North America or the wider Americas.
The Americas experiments have only served to highlight how the game in those parts remains the almost exclusive preserve of expatriates from the Indian subcontinent with a few past-their-best West Indians and an Englishman thrown in.
Formats have changed from preliminary groups to an open round robin and back to groups, while the competition, for all its perceived attractiveness as a limited over variety of the game, has so far failed to acquire a fixed slot on the annual Caribbean cricket calendar.
Much of that is influenced by external factors, of course, like the increasing unavailability of premier players due to more lucrative T20 opportunities like Australia’s Big Bash League.
Which is why it was heartening to hear Carlos Brathwaite confirm, come what may, that he was on his way back home from his short-term stint with the Sydney Thunder as replacement for the injured Andre Russell, to represent the Pride in the quest to reclaim the regional title, beginning on Tuesday with a day/night duel with four-day titleholders Guyana Jaguars at Kensington.
At the same time, it is more than a little disappointing for a competition that needs as many star names as possible to spark greater public interest to see Darren Bravo omitted from the Red Force squad and effectively debarred from any form of sanctioned regional cricket in the aftermath of his Twitter remarks directed at the West Indies Cricket Board president, resulting in the cancellation of his contract and removal from the squad that played a tri-nation One-Day International series in Zimbabwe in November following the tour of the United Arab Emirates.
It was nothing short of ludicrous, and an accurate reflection of the state of West Indies cricket as far as player-administrator relations, to see Bravo playing for his home club Queen’s Park against the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in a warm-up fixture last Wednesday under lights at the Queen’s Park Oval.
Queen’s Park’s three-wicket victory (Bravo contributed 31 runs in the pursuit of 252) rubbed salt in the open wounds of a squad that ended the first half of the first class campaign at the bottom of the standings.
Head coach Gus Logie publicly appealed to prominent and presumably disillusioned senior players to make themselves available for his team when the second half of the season commences following the Super50 final in just under four weeks’ time
in Antigua.
By the way, that seems a long way off, doesn’t it? To have a regional competition run for almost a month will certainly be a test in sustaining fan interest, although the global reach via the “live” television coverage by ESPN of the day/night matches at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG) should ensure a decent enough audience in the Caribbean and the Americas whatever the spectator presence at the ground.
Of course, the CCG was developed and branded as the SCG, as in the Stanford Cricket Ground, in honour of the big-spending American who, ten years ago, was being celebrated up and down this chain of nations as the saviour – at least financially – of West Indies cricket.
Given the subsequent fate of Allen Stanford (the “Sir” was stripped by the government of Antigua and Barbuda after he was convicted in 2012 of fraud and jailed in the United States) and the collapse of the T20 event bearing his name, scheduling the major part of the 2017 Super50 there must create some awkward moments in the coming weeks unless all concerned studiously avoid any reference whatsoever to the big-money but ultimately deceptive cricketing extravaganzas in 2006 and 2008.
At the end of the day, though, and for all of the many side issues, it is the quality of the cricket by which the competition will be judged.
Let’s hope this cricketing chameleon of a tournament gives us its best appearance in the coming days.
Fazeer Mohammed is a regional cricket journalist and broadcaster who has been covering the game at all levels since 1987.
