I write this on the flight from Barbados to Toronto. The T-20 world cup is finally over. A competition that began with the Indians and the South Africans starting favourites, ultimately had a surprising but much-deserved winner in the English, breaking a 35-year-old world cup jinx.
But action on the field apart, the world cup was made memorable for me personally by several events off the field. The best among these was the dinner organised on May 15 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Sir Garfield Sobers? knighthood. Having delivered the Frank Worrell Memorial Lecture the night before, I had a fair idea as to what some of the West Indian legends like Wes Hall were due to say. But never did I realise how significant and how deep rooted such sentiments could be in the Caribbean cricket psyche. It was a revelation to note that Sir Gary has never been given credit for being a truly great captain. As suggested by one of the leading intellectuals of West Indian cricket, ?If you take the five best all-time West Indian elevens, Gary features in all of them. But he isn?t captain in any. It starts with Sir Frank and then it is Clive Lloyd.?
For some like Reverend Wesley Hall, this is one of the singular problems of West Indian cricket. ?Gary has never been given his due. He took over as captain of the West Indies at the age of 26. That team featured Conrad Hunte, Basil Butcher, myself and others who were senior to Gary. But it was Gary who led the West Indies to world triumph by beating Australia, England and India consecutively in a span of a year and a half. We hadn?t beaten Australia in the 40 years of our cricket history and for the first time West Indies could lay claim to being the best team in the world,? he said.
This sentiment was best driven home by Sir Hilary Beckles, one of the leading intellectuals of the West Indian game, ?It is a disservice to deny Gary the credit of being a truly great captain. If you go out there and speak to people, you will still hear people say that Gary?s declarations cost us matches. But you must remember that the entire team and the management were taken into confidence when the declaration against England in 1968 was decided upon. In fact, Sir Everton Weekes, the manager, wanted the declaration to come an hour early. It is a shame that after West Indies lost, it was Gary alone who was blamed for the loss.?
The broader point in all of this discussion is that the issue of legacy, so deeply significant in world sport, continues to occupy a central position in the West Indian public imagination. Though the West Indies as a team isn?t performing well, cricket continues to occupy a central place in West Indian culture. This explains the MA programme in cricket studies at the University of West Indies, the CLR James Research Centre at the university and the magnificently maintained 3W?s oval at the centre of the university campus. Also, the West Indian cricket academy, to be opened in the next couple of weeks, is being located at the university. It is the effort to perpetuate this legacy that differentiates West Indian cricket from the Indian one. In India, we may have the money but we lack the sensitivity and the desire to celebrate our legends, turn them immortal and breathe life into their achievements. Busy making the fast buck from the IPL, Indian cricket has little respect for its past. Little wonder then that Barbados has its own legends museum celebrating the achievements of Sobers, Hall, Haynes, Garner and the like while in India we continue to wait for the museum that will memorialise India?s cricket history. Question is: is the BCCI listening?
?The writer is a cricket historian