There had been a fire in Babylon which consumed it, well, as far as some bible nuts want to believe, that was the case. But we are not here to discuss that Babylon. We are here to discuss about coming of age of West Indies cricket. Why on earth are we on about that one on a visa blog? It's because its the April 1st – The National Day here. On this holiest of holy days, we need to be light hearted (half hearted?) and have some fun. What do you fellers think, I mean after all where else do you find people who repeatedly claim to be happy while their cities are consumed with fires of corruption and vanity? It strikes me quite odd that these people here, robbed of their basic humanity and dignity on daily basis, still claim to be happy when world Happiness Indexes are surveyed.
Accordingly to some recent studies, the number of the beast 666, stands for Nero, who was indeed a beast when you consider some of his many atrocities. Things like burning Christians as torches to light up his gardens at nights.. Mind you, he was no sweetheart of the other Romans either. Nero fiddled while Rome burned might not be a true story, yet it sums up the good emperor quite accurately. Poor Nero needs not be worried, for now here on earth there is a whole nation composed almost exclusively of his direct descendants. A whole nation of Nero descendants, setting fire to everything in sight, be it their values, culture, justice, or their own humanity. Just like the Christians repeated Nero by torching people whom they considered as witches or heretics (after calling Nero the “Beast”) or peeled off flesh from living people (read something about Library of Alexandria), the modern Nero bunch here is busy setting fire to themselves and whatever they can lay their hands on. Quite an achievement for a nation who could not even cast a bicycle ball, yet think so proud of themselves and go on crowing about the feats of their poor ancestors..
Now lets look at the Windies. Despite of being able to upset the whole apple cart in 1950 in England by a series win with the help of Spin Twins (Alf Valentine and Sonny Ramadhin), their cricket went downhill and by 70's they were called “Calypso Cricketers” - out there to entertain the crowds while being the butt of humiliation. By this time the 3W's were all gone and the English had long ago found the answer to spinners (Colin Cowdrey 154, Peter May 285 unbeaten – setting a record 411 partnership for 4th wicket). Yet that match in 1950 had changed cricket forever. It was no longer the White Man's game, we are not here to entertain you by losing to you, and the Windies made it clear to all. English reserve and stiff upper lip was loosened by the Caribbean fans wreaking havoc among the old boys, in no lesser place than at Lord's. Cricket had never been the same since, and it never will be, ever again.
Fast forward to 1975, Windies were having a bad patch of time. 1975 tour in Australia had been a disaster, with Jeff Thompson and Dennis Lillee (NOT Lillie, that was a different cricketer) tearing up the ranks in to pieces while biased umpiring and hostile local fans make you wonder if you have fallen in to purgatory through a hole in the pitch like Alice fell in Alice in Wherever, and having to battle all those bouncers which were surely bodyline, one can quite appreciate that people were losing the grip of the game. For the record, it took another island captain and a quarter of a century to bring around the gentlemen in Australians to the Gentlemen's game. Just for the record.
Clive Lloyd saw what happened and thought to himself “if they could do that with those two puny guys, I could do better” and returned to Australia with England as a first stop in 1976. Except this time he carried with him Holding, Roberts, Holder and Daniel – four lethal fast bowlers in one team. Poor English had no answer, and Tony Greig (who is surely a nice feller, except for this little mistake perhaps) put his foot in by commenting that he would make the Windiest grovel.
Just as planned, Clive Lloyd unleashed his fast bowlers on the hapless English and when it was all over – or rather when it was half over, the reigning comment amongst the fans was “who's groveling now?”. A series victory (and a humiliation for the English) with a new pace on the pitch by the new kids on the block had turned cricket upside down again.
I could go on to comment deeper on the Australian experience, but suffice it to say that they were hoisted with their own petard. The press was all screaming how “ungentlemanly” the Windies were and the Aussies were bitter losers, as usual. A more civilized nation would have asked themselves the question “is this not what we did to others?” but then again you couldn’t expect much from you know what, surely that would be asking too much from a nation of … now what was that word?
West Indies supremacy of the game was assured till 1995, where they had not lost a series from that day onwards, even against the odds of touring in Australia. Cricket had not seen anything like that before and it is unlikely to be seen again in a single lifetime, though a real cricket fan might insanely hope to witness it. A BBC programme titled Fire in Babylon describes the whole story from the Windies point of view, and it was pretty well done.
The moral of the story is simple. Idiocy may be acquired, but imbecility is surely hereditary. Only treatment is to save oneself from himself. Obama or any other boogeyman is not out to get you. If you did not play with a straight bat and was effed up in Geneva, then come again and play a proper game. Name calling and burning effigies is not going to win cricket matches. It’s that simple.
