The victory of West Indies Under-19 made everyone happy

These days, the West Indies are pathetic losers. Yes, they do entertain us at times, but their manner of defeats are comical and at the same time, irritating as well. But still, everyone is happy whenever West Indies win. They are still liked by all.

You might have rooted for team India yesterday and obviously, their defeat left you bemused, but you cannot deny that you were happy to witness the joyous celebration of the young West Indians as well. And why not? You love cricket not on the basis of jingoism and fanaticism, but your love for the game is based on passion. You are a true lover of the game and you are well aware of this game’s enriched history. You believe in carrying the legacy of WG Grace, Don Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar and Co who loved cricket wholeheartedly.

If you are a true lover of cricket, you would be happy with the victory of West Indies yesterday. For more than a decade, these entertainers from the Caribbean islands won the hearts of each and every cricket fan all over the world. Their batsmen were ruthless, but not robotic while their bowlers were ferocious, but not demons. For a brutal cover-drive flayed by Viv Richards on the back-foot or a vicious away-swinger from Malcolm Marshall, a cricket fan could skip the date with his girlfriend. One could spend whole day at the stadium by bunking his office or school, only to watch them in action. Such has been their influence in world cricket.

Since the emergence of three Ws, the West Indies had a big impact on world cricket. Gradually, they became the ultimate champions of world cricket. Yes, they bowled well, batted superbly and fielded electrifyingly, but they never bothered to sledge. In fact, mental intimidation via using abusive words had never been their part of the game and they never needed to rely on this. They believed in playing the game the way it should be played – let the bat and ball do the talkings and this simple mantra made everyone fall in love with West Indies cricket. World cricket would not have been excitingly romantic had teams like West Indies not existed.

In 1995, West Indies lost a home series for the first time in fifteen years and since then, Caribbean cricket’s slide has been dismal and there has neither been any efforts from their hierarchy nor their players to lift West Indies cricket. The priority of both the players and officials has been money rather than cricket. Greed has overtaken passion and thus, the prophets of doom and gloom are in firm control of Caribbean cricket.

Mind you, the passionate fans are not at all happy with the fall of Caribbean kingdom. They just miss the flair and romaticisim of West Indies cricket. West Indies cricket’s off the field antics makes the heart of the fans, heavy and at times they are left hopeless. But despite all the mind-boggling events, the cricket fans gather new hope. Each and every cricket fan desperately wants the West Indies to reach the top.

Gidron Pope, Alzarri Joseph, Shimron Heytmer, Keacy Carty, Keemo Paul, Chemar K Holder and Shamar Springer have instilled new hope among the fans all over the world. It seems that behind the dark clouds there is a silver lining. These young cricketers of the West Indies Under-19 team are extremely talented and temperamentally strong. Their batting is an amalgamation of controlled aggression while their pace bowlers revived the memories of Marshall, Holding, Garner, Roberts and Ambrose. This young team realize that the main strength of West Indies cricket is express-pace-bowling and throughout the tournament, the young pacers generated extreme-pace on flat-decks which jolted the batting orders of teams like Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

Can the fans invest faith in this young West Indies team? Will the West Indies victory reunite a divided house? It may happen only if the officials of West Indies Cricket Board and senior players cutshort their personal gains for the sake of national interest. But at the moment, the fans all over the world are happy to witness a joyful West Indies unit. These young guns made everyone happy.

Note: This article has been published in Cricwizz on 15/02/2016 The victory of West Indies Under-19 made everyone happy

Thank You

Faisal Caesar