Stephen Vasciannie
SOMEONE HAS ASKED ME the following question: If you have to buy World Cup Cricket tickets from now, what will happen to the interest on the money you have paid between now and the date of delivery of the tickets? I don't know the answer to this question. It may well be that the organisers have a plan to give about 300 days' interest on money paid over to ticket purchasers: If so, they could mention it to members of the public.
If the organisers do not intend to turn over interest for the period between purchase and delivery of tickets to those who are thirsty for access to the World Cup, then, in the interest of transparency, they should explain why this will not be done. It is arguably impractical to pay interest in this way, but I am not sure. If, for argument's sake, the average advance credit card purchase from now is US$50, then this may well accumulate to a tidy sum: The organisers could tell us where this sum will go.
PRINCELY CRITICS
Still on cricket, are we now tired of the argument concerning whether Brian Lara should be captain of the West Indies team? Some years ago, I wrote a column criticising persons who are deeply opposed to the multiple record holder. At a Bar Association function a colleague rather sniffily reminded me that he had played cricket for his school, thus implying that since I was a "sops" at school, I should stay out of the Lara debate.
Then I went to Kirkvine to watch a dismal Trinidad and Tobago versus Jamaica match. Jamaica thrashed them, leaving the hapless Trini skipper to apologise to the people of Jamaica. But at the ground itself, a man from the stands kept shouting 'Weh Lara deh, Vassie', or some such refrain. He probably wanted me to say 'At carnival.' Defending Lara in public may not be hazardous to your health, but it does little for your peace of mind.
ANTI-LARA POSITION
Sometimes it seems that you cannot be a cricket aficionado unless you stake out your anti-Lara position. Most experts - with the exception of Christine Cummings, Wayne Lewis, Patrick Dallas and a few others - are anxious to have Lara dismissed as captain. Until he makes some big runs. Then a few ginnigogs go quiet for a while, to return to the fray on a later date. Some experts, though, are consistent: even if Lara excels, he will always be undeserving ... because he is selfish, arrogant, distracted, contemptuous of authority, or for a range of other, largely subjective, reasons.
And cricket, furthermore: What can be done to bring schoolboy cricket in town closer to the general level of the rural game? For these purposes, Eltham counts as a Kingston team, for it plays in the Grace Shield competition; but even so, in recent years the rural teams have consistently played at a step above their urban counterparts. What accounts for this? In the old days there was the sugar influence, but that is hardly a major factor anymore. It may be that urban boys have so many alternatives - useful and deleterious - that the talented sports stars can look elsewhere.
Looking elsewhere, I have followed the exciting series of duels between Veronica Campbell and Sherone Simpson with much interest. The elements of drama are there: Veronica is the queen, with an Olympic Crown to prove it. But, of a truth, Sherone, rather excitingly, is no automatic respecter of preordained royalty. Veronica is modest, soft-spoken, training in America but very Jamaican. Sherone is determined, loquacious, training in Jamaica but instinctively globalised. I hope that each time they meet on the track these points of contrast, with all their sociological implications, will push them faster and faster: competition in the interest of Jamaica. I hope CVM will repeat their showing of last week's Stadium contest very soon.
Stephen Vasciannie is a professor at the University of the West Indies and a Deputy Crown Solicitor.
