Sir Frank Worrell- West Indian Hero

40 years ago on this day, the Caribbean lost one of its greatest leaders. He was not a Prime Minister or Premier, but the first black captain of the West Indies cricket team. Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell succeeded in doing what no politician before him or since has been able to do- unite an archipelago of islands with a similar history but each with its own insular view of itself. It may not have been a political or economic union, but his achievement in bringing the region together through a beautiful game that is much more than a sport in the West Indies is unrivalled. Notwithstanding this, he was also a great batsman and a member of the legendary three Ws from Barbados. While Weekes was regarded as the best batsman of the trio and Walcott was a powerful hitter of the ball, Worrell was the poet and artist, being described as one who never made an ungrammatical stroke. Tragically, like quite a few other leaders and activists in the 1960s who challenged the status quo (Fanon, Malcolm X, MLK, Che, Lumumba), he died very young.

It was therefore fitting that the West Indies team which defeated Pakistan in the opening game of the World Cup today played like a cohesive unit instead of a bunch of disparate individuals like they have been doing so often in the past decade. While they started badly, once they had recovered, they never looked back. There were some questions over strategy but in the end everything worked out fine. Even more pleasing was that some of the players who have failed miserably to fulfil their obvious potential- Dwayne Smith and Marlon Samuels in particular- stepped up today and led the charge. If they continue to play like this and work on the weak areas, they can prove to be serious contenders for the Cup.

Memories of Past Glory

*Photos from www.cricinfo.com and BBC Website

It snowed on and off yesterday evening/night and also for part of today. I was watching the news a little while ago and as usual the snow seems to have caused its fair share of chaos. I saw a little boy playing in the snow with his father earlier. One of my nephews came to mind. My sister is studying in Ohio and from the time my nephew was told he would be joining her there, he was on about playing in the snow in America. He was about three then. A year and a half later and the poor boy has hardly seen any snow. Last year there was a small amount and this year there has only been heavy snow there once or twice. At least he did get to play in the snow, even though not as much as he would have liked, and can tell his cousins all about it when he goes back home.

I saw an article in today’s Nation about the plans to honour the members of the Clive Lloyd led West Indies teams that won the first two Cricket World Cups in 1975 and 1979. There will be a brief ceremony before the opening match of the tournament on March 13th where the surviving eighteen members will be presented with memorabilia. Families of three deceased players as well as the family of the late Sir Clyde Walcott who was manager of both teams will receive presentations later in the tournament. As far as I am concerned, this is the best news about the World Cup in a long time, especially as we have been having our fill of negative stories about large sums of wasted money, corruption, slow ticket sales and visa disorder. What better way to honour these great players who brought glory to the Caribbean than for the Windies to lift that trophy on April 28th in Barbados. Let me indulge myself a little bit more: a Lara century and a Bradshaw five wicket haul. Ok back to reality now. They probably will not even make it pass the first round!