West Indies Cricket Fans

Note: This response split from Rohan Kanhai's 75th birthday thread

Bally .

Can you advise me what was going on in the Caribbean , that made Kanhai carry the oppressed West Indian people on his back by his batting against the Colonial Masters ? If such was the case West Indies went unbeaten for a couple of decades , how many countries in the Caribbean improved . How many improved after Independence Jamaica and Guyana are basket cases . We should blame the masters for that , leaving us in the hands of locals to govern.

Kanhai , Sobers et al , they didn't give a crap about politics . They came to play
cricket , its the only thing they were gifted at .The made the game exciting and showed how sportsmen played the gentleman's game .

When I am reading opinions that go against Kanhai beliefs I call it Crap .He went
away from West Indies Cricket , not to return . Why not focus on his achievements to improve cricket . He played in many countries and helped in Coaching . At the Various venues watching Cricket in the West Indies where I saw him play , when an opponent played a bad shot one could hear him , coaching that
individual by his conversations with that batsman. He saw 10th world mentality and left , we shall never know the void it created.

The former greats played the game based on their love for it , and it showed on the field of play .They had pride and didn't want to humiliate their fans.They didn't play the game based on being free of colonial masters . Tell me the Ashes is on so we are saying convicts vs masters . I see it as two skilled teams trying to win at all costs . Pointing doesn't have the convicts on his back claiming redemption . He wants to tell the Poms , we play the game better than you .

I still say Crap was posted without proof .

Musashi,

I split this off the Kanhai thread and suggested you pick a fight here.

What are you trying to do? Derail that thread?
So you came on the thread to highlight the supposedly crap? By adding more crap? What is the purpose?

What was going on in the Caribbean in the 60s and early 70s?

There are 11 players on the team and even though Kanhai was doing his thing others were pulling their own weight. So Kanhai was not a one man show. Gary Sobers was on his team and is considered as one of the greatest in the game. But that thread was paying tribute to Kanhai so not much was said about the other players.

During that period the jury was not out how these independent nations will do ...

Kanhai , Sobers et al , they didn't give a crap about politics . They came to play
cricket , its the only thing they were gifted at .The made the game exciting and showed how sportsmen played the gentleman's game .

I was a young kid at this time but what you wrote above is totally crap. Back them there was pride, passion, and skills...not the crap WI have now. As a result, WI was representing the region and making a political statement in sports.

The former greats played the game based on their love for it , and it showed on the field of play .They had pride and didn't want to humiliate their fans.They didn't play the game based on being free of colonial masters . Tell me the Ashes is on so we are saying convicts vs masters . I see it as two skilled teams trying to win at all costs . Pointing doesn't have the convicts on his back claiming redemption . He wants to tell the Poms , we play the game better than you .

Were the Australians Slaves or indentured ? Were they controlled by their master like the Caribbean people? Was Australia racially oppressed? What year the Ashes started? What year Australia became an independent nation?

As I Have said in this and another Forum , Cricket in the Region , began to decline when our Players were banned from playing Cricket in England . If you are familiar with Cricket in the Region , you would realize that in the Region , WE dont have a Semi or Pro Regional League , to this day our Players are Part Time Players .

They play less Cricket than their counterparts in International Teams ranked above our Team . You also have to take into consideration the fact that the ICC'S current format is vastly different to former days when our Team played half the Counties , before & between Test Matches .

My view is that when England imposed its ban on our Players , the onus was on the WICB to try forming a Semi or Professional League , and if that wasnt feasible , increase the duration of the Regional Tournaments . Sadly it did none of these things , and slowly but surely Cricket in the Region , started on a downward trend , which in my opinion has not stopped .

Point...now WI are inviting England to play in our regional...go figure

So we are providing training for them to come back and beat us?

BallOil ,

That is just a sample of how visionary the Emperors in the WICB are . Rather than invite the England A Team , we would be better off extending the Regional Tournament . But then the WICB has never ever been known to have Vision , a fact that I have already pointed out . .

POINT wrote:BallOil ,

That is just a sample of how visionary the Emperors in the WICB are . Rather than invite the England A Team , we would be better off extending the Regional Tournament . But then the WICB has never ever been known to have Vision , a fact that I have already pointed out . .

Spot on bro.. What is England doing for WI? Not to mention we have two of their county teams playing in the local T20.

Bally ,

I have no intention of derailing any thread just the crap written.

First point you said tells it all

I was a young kid at this time but what you wrote above is totally crap

ok kid show me the proof ?

What was going on in the Caribbean in the 60s and early 70s?

There are 11 players on the team and even though Kanhai was doing his thing others were pulling their own weight. So Kanhai was not a one man show. Gary Sobers was on his team and is considered as one of the greatest in the game. But that thread was paying tribute to Kanhai so not much was said about the other players.

During that period the jury was not out how these independent nations will do

What did the above have to do with Cricket ,Kanhai and his 75th birthday ?
Did beating the Colonial masters at their game give us independence , then its crap

I was a young kid at this time but what you wrote above is totally crap. Back them there was pride, passion, and skills...not the crap WI have now. As a result, WI was representing the region and making a political statement in sports.

What political statement did they make when they were undefeated for two decades ? Can you enlighten me please?
Why dont you see which Country Sobers visited and a Caribbean leader wanted to ban him from the game . Sobers was clueless about politics as he stated Eric Williams penned a letter which Sobers signed .What political statement did Sobers make ?

If they were making political statements , which one of these countries benefited to get its standard of living higher ? Enlightened me please ? What political statement did Kanhai make ?

Were the Australians Slaves or indentured ? Were they controlled by their master like the Caribbean people? Was Australia racially oppressed? What year the Ashes started? What year Australia became an independent nation?

I cant believe you made the above statement . Its laughable.

The British took convicts that they didn't want anymore , took them from their homes to a country half way around the world and dumped them . Isnt that not control?
A British penal colony was set up at Port Jackson (what is now Sydney) in 1788, and about 161,000 transported English convicts were settled there until the system was suspended in 1839.


Why dont you check the history about the Abo,s under British rule , then tell me if they weren't
oppressed .

Australia gradually gained more and more autonomy from Britain, but did not achieve full independent sovereignty until 1986.

The Ashes are a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is international cricket's most celebrated rivalry and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues being in opposite hemispheres, the break between series alternates between 18 and 30 months. A series of "The Ashes" comprises five Test matches, two innings per match, under the regular rules for Test match cricket. If a series is drawn then the country already holding the Ashes retains them.

The series is named after a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, The Sporting Times, in 1882 after a match at The Oval in which Australia beat England on an English ground for the first time. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. The English media dubbed the next English tour to Australia (1882–83) as the quest to regain The Ashes.

During that tour a small terracotta urn was presented to England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, a bail. The Dowager Countess of Darnley claimed recently that her mother-in-law, Bligh's wife Florence Morphy, said that they were the remains of a lady's veil.

I guess they were making apolitical statement by dubbing the series the ashes. Amazing

The indentured workers came to the Caribbean freely , they signed contracts and if they stayed longer they were promised certain things . They knew what they were up against and wasn't forced to do it .

what all the hoopla about?

One man is recalling the performance and skill of a great player as HE SEES it. he is not writing a biography! He is expressing what Kanhai's attitude, skill determination and passion meant to him!

maybe crap for some but its cherished memories for the author.

If that is his cherish memories , he is writing crap .

Incidentally I dont think he has the ability to be an author .

The only way he would comprehend the players attitude , his skills and what they game meant to him is by interviewing that player.

There is no hoopla . Go back and read what was written then read articles about Kanhai it would show a completely different picture of a quiet man who let his skills do the talking .

Googley wrote:what all the hoopla about?

One man is recalling the performance and skill of a great player as HE SEES it. he is not writing a biography! He is expressing what Kanhai's attitude, skill determination and passion meant to him!

maybe crap for some but its cherished memories for the author.

what does mewsarsho/socafighter know googley? who is fighting with her. who attacked her? I could if I would spend the time demonstrate how silly and backward and most importanly jealous and vengeful she is.

but I dont have to because all of you know what went on,our histroy and some relevant impression of whatever value I said has. I also understand soccfighter/mewsarshims psycholgy and she has problems only hard experience has a chance of curing. I hope such experience leavesher standing up but its really none of my business.

as far as I see you are giving her simple advice googley and you should not have to tell her anything of the sort, she should know that already.

maybe if it was you googley, or Bally, or someone like you guys who said all I have she would respond diferently. but she cyar stand the fact that someone like me said it. that could be the problem with the woman in my case..the Sarah Palin of the Fan .

this is not a tea party Mewsarshasha, or is it mewsarshee, or mewsarshii? whatever!