CATEGORY:COMMENTARY -------------------------- INSIDE GRENADA Sunday April 15,2007 by Lloyd Noel (Attorney-at-law) Who would have ever thought, that the fun and party game of cricket that we in the Caribbean took so much for granted for all those decades - would, at its highest level of exposure for Worldwide viewing, have come to our shores and caused so much division , and discussion, and heated debate and dissension, as is currently taking place with and touching and concerning CWC2007. And to think that we still have two full weeks to go, before the curtain finally comes down on this most expensive investment exercise - that many of our politicians have been hailing as the best things that could have come our way, to help boost Tourism and foreign investments in the future. I am sure those said politicians are not singing the same swan song now-a-days, and in fact have changed their tunes to the extent of blaming the ICC and WICB and CWC - any and everyone else except themselves, for having fallen prey for an event of that magnitude - without giving due consideration to the real pros and cons and the dollars and cents involved.And none of their excuses and fictitious scapegoats would make any difference to the huge expenditures they have involved their struggling Island economies into. But the much bigger question they all face is - how and when will they ever recover from those huge debts? And what is more, those new facilities that cost Millions to build anew or reconstruct - they have to be maintained to retain their attraction and usefulness to get future business; and the many unfinished roads and bridges around the Stadium, they too have to be completed to add the finishing touches to the project. So the stage is not yet finished, but it is well set for the times ahead come what may. But to add the gross let down by our West Indies team, to the huge losses the Local Government’s and Local Organizing Committee’s are already experiencing at the gates - is a double dose that is really difficult to swallow. There is very definitely something wrong or missing in the whole make-up of that team. Some of those chaps go about the business of the game on the field, as though they are doing some people a favour by being there at all. I cannot believe it is because of the insufficiency of fees they are receiving. On the contrary, from the reports I saw a few weeks ago - when the WICB and the Players Association (WIPA) were again in some squabble about contracts for CWC 2007 - the players were receiving very handsome rewards for their services (over U.S. $2 Million). It must therefore be some other problem with whoever - be it Management, selectors for the Fifteen (15) or selectors for each game, or some breakdown along the way that has stifled their appetite for the games, and they are showing it. And what is perhaps a real likelihood, is that because of West Indies very poor displays since the Super Eight games began - to the extent that not even a cricket miracle could get them to the semi-finals after the South Africa thrashing in Grenada - the local fans have lost their interest in the world cup as such, and the crowds may not respond positively even to a reasonable reduction in ticket prices. And talking about the thrashing in Grenada last week Tuesday (April 10th ), the selectors (whichever group) did make some changes to the team at long last - although it was more of a case of closing the stable doors after the horses had bolted. But in any case it did not make much difference - except for Sarwan the old timers performed true to form, and the game was lost after the first nine overs bowled by the West Indies when the score was barely 26/27.Thereafter, the bowlers appeared to be giving the South Africans slogging practice to all corners of the ground. And as if to add humiliating insult to aggravating injury, the main destroyer of those practice bowlers was a batsman (Kallis) hobbling on one leg to score 81 runs. The two new-comers in our own Devon Smith and Keiron Pollard from Trinidad - both playing for the first time, after three consecutive defeats in the Super Eight matches - they were under too much pressure to succeed, although Devon did show positive signs of his undoubted ability. Skipper Brian Lara said afterwards that the team is now playing for pride - in the two games remaining against Bangladesh and England; but West Indies will soon after the World Cup is over be leaving for a tour of England, so the game goes on regardless. Those persons charged with the goodwill and rebuilding of our regional pride and joy - that once mastered all-comers on the Cricket field Worldwide - they have a serious task on their hands, and they will have to make in-depth changes if they really want to recapture the glory days. As for the vast expenditures incurred by those Mini-states, like ours in Grenada for example, the financial picture and the immediate future look very gloomy indeed. When the World Cup is over, and we are left with our brand new State of the art Stadium to maintain, and to find valuable uses to help recoup some of the expenses laid out in the exercise - the picture would take on a very different colour. Of course, we also have to get the Athletics side of the Stadium re-constructed, and the Government people have assured us that the Mainland Chinese workers will return to do that job. The main point to note - is that all the ole talk about CWC2007 being our economic salvation, because it would have brought in untold Millions to our Treasury, was nothing more than ole talk. The reality now is already very clear, that we bit off a whole lot more than we could chew; and even before it is over, we can see that the job of recovery is many times bigger than that of incurring the huge debts in the first place. I have noticed that here at home and elsewhere in the Region, some Leaders are strenuously advocating - that the shortcomings and deficiencies, in one form or another, should not be disclosed or commented on at this stage, but the news media should wait until the games are all over to comment. I cannot agree with that position, for the very good reason that nothing about our first time attempt at this level of a World event is cast in stone - and since there is time left to make adequate changes to remedy the short-comings, the comments and even the criticisms should be welcome to do just that. In our case in Grenada, both the Government and the LOC have quite rightly taken many sensible steps - to help redress some of the flaws and weaknesses, that were very noticeable in the venues before the teams came to Grenada. Ticket prices were the main source of complaints, because our people’s economic situation simply could not afford to take in even the one West Indies game, never mind the subsequent games in which we had no direct interest. The drop in prices, the decision to let people occupy seats in the stands where the prices were double and more than the $25.00 U.S. collected on the day of the Match - and the idea of a “Grenada Posse Stand” at $20.00 E.C.C. for the remaining games from Saturday 14th April, are all sensible innovations to bring in the West Indian flavour to the World Cup. I sincerely hope that the powers-that-be in our Cricket structure, and their knowledgeable advisers in the game, have already truly gone back to the drawing board Lara is always talking about, when his team loses a game. We obviously have some talented players in the Region, what is missing is the proper mixture of that talent, the organised display thereof on the fields of play, and the bringing together of the motivation and dedication to serve and make their Country (West Indies) proud again. The malaise affecting our Cricket is not just the poor performances on the fields - that is just the consequences from what go into the whole package from top to bottom. The much bigger national problems facing the Region as a whole - resulting from the heavy financial outlay many of the venue Islands undertook - will have to be faced in the months and years ahead. And in cases like ours in Grenada, where the fiscal and economic situation is under much more strain than in many others, the crunch could come about a lot sooner than we can cope with. Our credit rating has been down graded in the Global Market place, and although I heard the Minister for Finance saying that Standard and Poors in New York, or wherever in the U.S.A., had used the wrong figures or information, or whatever, to come to their conclusion - the situation is not getting any better but getting very much worse with each passing day. And now that the empty boasts of the CWC2007 bringing economic salvation to our people and Country, whether in the short or long term - have in fact and in reality been shown to be wishful thinking in the first place, in the events which have happened, it leaves nothing else of any worthwhile alternative to rely on. The weeks and months ahead seem destined to be very crucial - for West Indies Cricket, as well as for West Indian politics in Grenada and elsewhere in the Region.