Tony Becca
THE REGIONAL first-class cricket competition gets underway in January and like the recent one-day tournament it should be keenly contested and full of excitement, particularly so when the West Indies team returns from Australia and all the teams are at full strength.
One reason for such an expectation is the fact that unlike recent years when they were involved but could not win the Carib Beer Cup, there will be no West Indies B team and no guest team.
This time around it will be the six affiliates of the West Indies Board against each other, this time around it will be the best against the best, with the B team and another country's A team no longer involved.
This time around any of the teams in action, any of Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands can win the title and regardless of all the talk about developing young players, about exposing young players and about the experience that can be gained by playing against A teams from countries like England, India and wherever, that is how it should be and how it should have been all the time.
GOOD FOR WI CRICKET
Apart from being keenly contested and full of excitement, however, the competition promises to be good for West Indies cricket and for two reasons.
The first reason is that participation in the regional tournament will once again be limited to the regional teams, that any team can win, that all the players in action are eligible to represent the West Indies and, hopefully, want to represent the West Indies, and that means all the matches will be keenly contested.
The second reason is that instead of each team playing each other once, each team will now play each other twice once at home and once away, or vice versa.
Apart from the fact that it is a better and fairer way to decide the winners of a regional tournament, the home-and-away format will provide more cricket for the players.
With six teams on the hunt, the home-and-away format means that instead of playing only five matches, each team will now play 10 matches and that augurs well for West Indies cricket.
Ten matches a season means that the players will play more cricket, that they will play an equal number of matches at home as they will play away, that by playing five times away they will become more accustomed to the pressures of playing away, that they will play on different pitches more regularly, and most importantly and especially in a season like the one coming up, it means that the senior players, the West Indies players, will be able to play more matches in the competition.
To a number of people the presence of the West Indies players may not be important. To the sponsors and the fans, however, it is important and it is important for a few simple reasons.
SENIORS PLAYERS
One reason is that the participation of senior players adds quality to any competition, with young players playing with and against better and more experienced players. Another reason is that it contributes to the development of young players, and remembering that all that glitters is not gold, that it is one thing to bat well or bowl well against one's peers than it is do so against experienced players, and that it is easy to be carried away with a century innings or a five-wicket haul regardless of the opposition. Still, another reason is that it is easier to assess the performance of young players and to determine their level of skill, their ability, when that performance is against better and more experienced players.
The move by the West Indies Board and sponsors Carib Beer to get rid of the West Indies B team, to get rid of an A team from England, India or wherever is a good one and even more so is the one to play home-and-away matches.
It was attempted once before and then discarded. Hopefully this time it will be around for a long time.
