BASSETERRE St. Kitts, May 11th 2011 - He took us down memory lane…and for those of us presently thrust into a world of Nintendo’s and play stations…it was a refreshing occasion for nostalgia.
But the lecture was more than nostalgia. We learnt again that the history of West Indian cricket cannot be seen in isolation; he showed quite clearly that our sociology, our colonial culture, our racist backlash and our class prejudices were all within the boundaries of West Indian cricket evolution. We knew that cricket had played a major role in boosting the self-esteem of all West Indians especially those in the Mother Country – England, where West Indians had arrived in droves to ‘seek their fortunes”. We knew that when they became world heroes - that it shattered forever (for some) the slave mentality of inferiority.
But we had never drawn - or had been unable to see till now - possible links between the riots of the 1930’s or the legacy of Marcus Garvey and WI cricket. Also those of us who only knew Sir Frank Worrel as the suave Senator and UWI’s learned cricketer-gentleman were not aware of the major ripples he made which disturbed the status quo during our colonial status.
But while the issues stated above were ‘outside the off stump’, Sir Hilary bowled many fast balls - steering us through the theories given for the fall of W.I. Cricket and swiftly whipping us through seeing our past notable cricketers as ‘father’, ‘king’, ‘general’, ‘prince’ and even a modern day ‘don’ in the person of Gayle.
But as we pulled all of these links and metaphors together, we couldn’t help thinking that ‘the more things change, the more they remain the same’. Haven’t our prejudices only taken a different form? We moved from the prejudices of colonialism, class and race, to the prejudices of insularity and the ‘small island/big island’ mentality.
We expect our cricketers to be our role models although we have not really invested in them and we shun them but not our politicians when the ‘accumulation of wealth becomes more important than the representation of our nation’. We accuse our cricketers of abandonment of commitment yet when our athletes gain world class status, we still try to keep them in their place” if they are not ‘one of the boys’.
OUR FEMALE CRICKETERS have now begun to make a name for themselves. They are exhibiting the drive, determination and commitment that once were the hallmarks of the male cricketers of times past. There is a lot we can learn from them as we sift through the rubble of present day WI cricket. Yet nary a mention was made of them in Sir Hilary’s lecture. Are they getting the same treatment that our earlier black cricketers got? Do we think that ‘that ain’t cricket’. Truth is, they are making us proud on the world scene and it behooves us to draw links between them and their male counterparts.
What we can learn overall, is that tradition is very difficult to break with; it is like the glass ceiling that women must break through. It is useful for us all to consider that tradition is not cast in stone. Our WI cricketers put their unique stamp on English cricket. With the right attitudes we can do a ‘genetic makeover’ to cricket without abandoning it.
Thank you, Sir Hilary, for the wealth of thought you brought to us. We hope that Cricket has not settled into a ‘cul de sac’, to use your words. Perhaps a ‘little woman shall lead them’! Who knows!
"Note: The lecture referred to above was given by Sir Hilary Beckles, Principal of the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies. The topic of the lecture was “Frank Worrell: The Rise and Fall of West Indies Cricket” and it was given at the Open Campus of the University of the West Indies, St. Kitts on Thursday 5 May, 2011"
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