Tony Becca
THE REGIONAL limited-overs tournament is over, and congratulations, not only to Guyana on winning the KFC Cup after a tough and exciting final against Barbados, but also to Ramnaresh Sarwan.
Batting at number three, Sarwan stroked three centuries and two fifties in six innings while scoring 462 runs at an impressive average of 115.50, and in a limited-overs tournament, in a tournament during which only one other batsman, teammate Sewnarine Chattergoon, scored a century, that was a fantastic performance.
To a number of Jamaicans, however, it was no big thing. According to them, Sarwan's performance was against West Indian bowling, West Indian bowlers, generally, are ordinary, the proof of his skill will be what he does against Australia and bowlers like Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Shane Warne, and that may well be true.
The fact, however, is that all the other batsmen in the region, including those from Jamaica, played against the same bowlers and, but for Chattergoon in the final, but for a few, including Marlon Samuels of Jamaica, who each played one innings of worth, while they found it difficult to find the ball, Sarwan, but for one occasion, stroked it to the boundary match after match and with monotonous regularity.
GOOD PERFORMANCE, SARWAN
Sarwan batted well - no question about that, and although it may have been like taking candy from a baby, instead of devaluing the performance of the Guyanese, Jamaicans should look at their own batsmen and try to find the reason or reasons for their poor performance - especially as they also failed to score a century in last year's tournament.
Is it that Jamaica's batsmen of today cannot bat?
No, that cannot be so - not when it is remembered that Jamaica's batsmen performed well in this year's four-day tournament and played their part in Jamaica winning the double.
Is it that Jamaica's batsmen of today cannot bat in the fast-paced limited-overs game?
No, that also cannot be so - not when one remembers some of their performances for the West Indies.
The problem, it seems, is more than that.
As has been said time and time again, one of the reasons is the lack of pride in performance. More and more, however, it is looking like arrogance - the kind of arrogance that makes so many of them, and particularly those who have represented or are representing the West Indies, believe they are better than they are.
WRONG PERCEPTION
They seem to feel the do not need to train and practise regularly, that they do not have to give it their best effort every day, that if they do not score some runs this time or a few times, so what? And that in club cricket they can bat where they want and when they want.
In fact, looking at club cricket, it appears, so often, that the top batsman, the Jamaica and/or the West Indies batsman, believe that the responsibility to score runs is not his but that of those with less ability and less experience - sometimes even that of the bowlers.
In days gone by, batsmen looked forward to scoring a century for their clubs, because of that, they trained during the week, and because of that they batted where they should bat - at or near the top of the order where they would have time to bat long and to score plenty runs.
Not so these days.
Today, too many of Jamaica's West Indies batsmen shy away from playing club cricket; today, too many of them do not train and practise regularly, if at all; and today, too many of them, when they do play, bat down the order, reel off a few strokes and are back in the pavilion in the twinkling of an eye.
BATSMAN'S RESPONSIBILITY
Although the game has changed in many respects, the responsibility to score runs remains that of a batsman, and although a batsman, regardless of his skill, can be dismissed cheaply, he is obliged, or should be obliged, to try to score runs every time he goes to bat.
Batting is practice, batting is scoring runs, scoring runs is a habit, and the failure to appreciate that is the reason, probably more than any other, for the poor performance of Jamaica's batsmen in limited-overs cricket - in the version of the game where, unlike the four-day version, they have less time in which to play themselves in.
