" FIRE IN BABYLON "

[POINT]

I have seen Fire in Babylon , and learnt a few things that I did not know before . In an instant of candor , Colin Croft stated that while he was playing Cricket during the Apartheid Regime in South Africa , he was once ordered off from a train because of his colour . my take is that he got what he deserved .

I had no idea that in the International Cricket Community there was so much pressure to do something regarding our Pace Bowlers . I was not living in the Region at that time so I was surprised by the uproar .

However I was not surprised when the one bouncer Rule was instituted , to curb the potency of our Players . that has been done to our Players for years . This is why it was absolutely no accident , in my opinion when England decided to ban overseas Players from playing in England . My belief was that it was mainly aimed towards Our Players , but they decided to include ALL
Players so as not to make it look so obvious .

I also have no doubt that the ECB knew that by doing this would eventually not only lower the Standard of Cricket in the Region ; but also cause our Players to lose their competitiveness . I also believe that the ECB knew that the WICB would do nothing to make our Players retain their competitiveness , and the ECB was right .

Wittingly or unwittingly the WICB played into the hands of ECB . That in my opinion is an unpardonable Sin ; because the WICB true to form did nothing . I deem this an unpardonable Sin , because had the WICB had Vision and Foresight ; it would have realized that at some point not only the standard of Cricket in the Region would decline , but also the competitiveness of our Team .

The truth is that by not seeking to to have a Regional Pro or Semi Pro League at that juncture when our Players were recognized all over the World , and had Prestige , therefore getting Financial Sponsors to do this would have been easy , by not doing this , the WICB really failed the Region . My take is that if these options were not feasible ; then increasing the duration of the Regional Tournaments would have helped our Players maintain their competitiveness .

WE all have to understand that the Standard of Cricket in the Region is lower than that of Teams that are ranked above our Team . I honestly dont think that anyone can dispute this . Again I have to stress that because our Players were not allowed to play in England , and also the advent of the current ICCC Scheduling Format which curtails Tours , it is essential that Camps , of a duration of not less than 3 weeks , must be mandatory ; if WE want our Players to be competitive .

Camps were not necessary during the Golden Eras of West Indies Cricket due to the fact that many matches were played before and between the Test Matches . Our Players in those Eras had ample time to get acclimatized to both the Climate and condition of the Pitches .

[BallOil]

thanks for this Point, didn't get to see it yet. I've tried to watch the viewing in NY but couldn't get in. I have to order my copy to watch over the winter.

Where are the pro-WICBites?

[AFRO]

WE all have to understand that the Standard of Cricket in the Region is lower than that of Teams that are ranked above our Team . I honestly dont think that anyone can dispute this . Again I have to stress that because our Players were not allowed to play in England , and also the advent of the current ICCC Scheduling Format which curtails Tours , it is essential that Camps , of a duration of not less than 3 weeks , must be mandatory ; if WE want our Players to be competitive .

LIE..LIE..LIE..LIE..LIE...i've actually said that word five times just so people can understand that the quote in bold is complete and utter GARBAGE, i already debunked that when i provided a quote stating that James Hildreth (who captained the England lions team who played in our four day competition this year) said "THE CARIBBEAN COMPETITION IS ON PAR WITH COUNTY DIVISION ONE", the Sri-lankan and Pakistan regional competition is NOWHERE NEAR the level of ours, and if that COWARD Point would like to prove me wrong then GO AHEAD..I DARE YOU!!,

Furthermore he keeps babbling on about England banning our players BUT THAT'S IN THE PAST NOW!!.. here is the list of caribbean players who played in the county championship THIS YEAR..

Chris Jordan
Chesney Hughes
Maurice Chambers
Cory Collymore
Ruel Brathwaite
Darren Bravo
Shiv Chanderpaul
Gareth Brees
Robbi Joseph

THAT'S NINE CARIBBEAN PLAYERS..so shut your damn mouth and stop talking NONSENSE!!...your lies will NEVER get traction.

[BallOil]

Afro...Point is not taking about today bout when they started this a number of years ago..

[AFRO]

Afro...Point is not taking about today bout when they started this a number of years ago..

He keeps spinning the same old lies, Sri-lanka and Pakistan's domestic competitions aren't better than ours, our players aren't "part time" like he often claims, he lambasts the WICB for not doing anything when England banned players from county but what the feck has that got to do with the current administration?

IT'S ALL HOT AIR MAN!! .

[POINT]

Balloil,

I ordered at copy from Barnes & Noble . It came in over the weekend , but I only got a chance to look at it yesterday . Our Players have always had to play and conform to the Rules of the Game set by others .

[Westdem]

Afro...Point is not taking about today bout when they started this a number of years ago..

He keeps spinning the same old lies, Sri-lanka and Pakistan's domestic competitions aren't better than ours, our players aren't "part time" like he often claims, he lambasts the WICB for not doing anything when England banned players from county but what the feck has that got to do with the current administration?

IT'S ALL HOT AIR MAN!! .

Yuh do realize that during the WI domination, all the players + the fringe players were playing in England, right? Did you also know that it was a deliberate move by those incharge of English cricket to weed out the WI players saying that they wanted to develop homegrown talent and the amount of foreign players was a hinderance.

The WICB then and until now have not done enough to make up for this downfall causing a stagnant growth in our cricket....Point is absolutely right with regards to our regional being too short.

To grow our cricket and mek competition fiercer...I would like to see the following teams compete in all regionals...

TnT, Jca, Guy, Bar, Li, Wi, HPC, CCC, WI Select (players with potential that cannot make their regional team), WI U23...thats 10 teams...teams should play against each other in round robin and the top 6 plays in the playoffs...

I am not sure who would sponsor this format...

[BallOil]

somebody buss up my Fire in Babylon deal on ebay today ...

I saw a brand new DVD going for 6.65 and I waited for the end then some skunt push up the price. So @ 11:50 plus $2:41 shipping, I'm still coming out ahead than the other prices on the net..

[AFRO]

Yuh do realize that during the WI domination, all the players + the fringe players were playing in England, right? Did you also know that it was a deliberate move by those incharge of English cricket to weed out the WI players saying that they wanted to develop homegrown talent and the amount of foreign players was a hinderance.

The WICB then and until now have not done enough to make up for this downfall causing a stagnant growth in our cricket....Point is absolutely right with regards to our regional being too short.

To grow our cricket and mek competition fiercer...I would like to see the following teams compete in all regionals...

TnT, Jca, Guy, Bar, Li, Wi, HPC, CCC, WI Select (players with potential that cannot make their regional team), WI U23...thats 10 teams...teams should play against each other in round robin and the top 6 plays in the playoffs...

I am not sure who would sponsor this format...

Did you see THIS thread i started where i outlined the amount of matches our players have played this year compared to the England players? it tells a different story to the LIES Point spreads, the fact is the best players in the region play the regional competitions, go on A-team/HPC tours and also play Champions league if their team qualifies, i think that's a decent amount of cricket, and the International players like Darren Bravo has played regional, champions league, international and county cricket this year, you call that being a "PART TIMER"?

Maybe the four day competition could be extending but it's tough when there is only eight teams involved, i had conversations with a WICB big cat earlier this year and just about convinced them that the HPC should be in the four day competition, so needless to say i doubt they will be bringing in a "WI-select" team anytime soon,

Also from what i gather the county teams only play sixteen four day games a year, a team like CCC this year played nine four day games when they got to the final with Jamaica, so it's not that bad considering England has much more teams and money than we do,

The fact is the starter of this thread loves to say that the teams ranked above us "have stronger regional competitions than we do" BUT THAT'S GARABAGE, and the more he keeps saying it the more i'll challenge him to prove his fallacies.

[howzdat]

... To grow our cricket and mek competition fiercer...I would like to see the following teams compete in all regionals... TnT, Jca, Guy, Bar, Li, Wi, HPC, CCC, WI Select (players with potential that cannot make their regional team), WI U23...thats 10 teams...teams should play against each other in round robin and the top 6 plays in the playoffs...
I am not sure who would sponsor this format...

Hi all and thanks Westdem, sometime back, as a contributor to some other website, when i was damn fedup with the crap performances of the WI team I mentioned a similar radical idea with the express aim of West Indies becoming the place from which an international resurgence in love for the game of cricket could emnate and catch a fire all over the world. Because truth be told cricketing competition is all the poorer for having and under-performing WI team Ask dem and dey will tell yuh.

My idea was this:

1) Individual nation states in the region to apply to become associate members of the ICC.
2) These nation states to come up through the International ranks just like Ireland, Canada, Afghanistan, Kenya have done till their teams attain Test match status.
3) Any player of any country in the region can play for his country or for WI if selected.

Westdem's WI Select and U23 and U19 ideas are also in similar vein.

Let's talk ...