Welcome back Windies
It’s always nice to know that when you get your butt, shorts, boots and ego handed to you in sport (otherwise known as a pasting, a thumping and a momentous loss) you have actually done something for the greater good. In war they might call it collateral damage. In sport you could call it a silver lining – after several days of grieving, finger-pointing and many calls to talkback.
I’m pretty sure the English cricket team won’t see their 381-run defeat in the first test by the West Indies as a good thing, but one English writer has had an epiphany. Richard Williams is the former chief sports writer for the Guardian newspaper. Only a journalist with several decades at the typewriter would be able to paint such a rosy picture of such a thumping. His first line read, ‘Is there a soul alive with an ounce of love for cricket who did not rejoice at the way the first test in Bridgetown turned out?’
Richard, there were many souls; bitter, angry, confused souls. But chaps, do buck up. It was a bit trousers down there but heigh-ho, we’re all about the greater good. Hoorah! As the pain subsided, they might’ve seen his point. It wasn’t England’s loss, but the Windies win that had him cheering.
I could almost see the tears of the Kiwi sportswriters when I read about the Black Caps’ domination during the West Indies 2017-2018 tour, when they won everything that wasn’t rained off. They were probably over the age of 35 and could remember the box-wetting sight of Windies pace ace Malcolm Marshall hustling towards the crease. Then there was the eyewatering honour to witness the flourishing style of Brian Lara, one of the greatest. When someone utters that cliche´ ‘a sight to behold’, it must’ve been created when watching the West Indies in the 80s.
The Calypso Kings’ form over the last decade has been as inadequate as the number of countries playing cricket. The game needs the Windies because the international community is lacking in competitive friends. You could invite all the captains to yours to watch the rugby and still have room for a buffet table, an extra fridge and all the ravenous mates your teenagers keep bringing home for dinner.
One test is not a revival, but that crushing win was the Windies’ eighth in their last 21 matches. And their pace attack, while not the ‘‘Whispering Death’’ of Michael Holding, has got us all chattering. With Australia looking more droopy green than baggy green, we cannot afford too many of the top teams to disappear into the wilderness.
So yes, it was fabulous to see England fail, however, I’d like to pull a wee caveat out of my pocket in a less obvious way than Cameron Bancroft. The absolute towelling the Black Caps are getting at the hands of India is a nightmare. For India to lay waste to Australia and then reduce the New Zealanders to those pebbly, stony bits you find on the wicket is terrible for cricket and should be stopped immediately, as it was in the Hamilton one-dayer.
And while we’re on the subject, the All
Blacks losing to Ireland last year was not the best thing to happen to rugby. Obviously this was a complete disaster and has caused insufferable confidence in the northern hemisphere, where even England are singing Ireland’s praises. Just so we’re clear, the All Blacks’ continued dominance is important to the overall health of rugby.