Tony Becca
The Stanford Twenty/20 tournament continues in St. John's this afternoon with a double-header featuring the heavyweights of West Indies cricket, and based on what has happened before, even though Antigua, the home team, have been knocked out, the attractive little cricket field with a capacity of just over 4,000 should be brimful of spectators and rocking with excitement.
At 2 o'clock, Jamaica time, it will be Barbados versus Trinidad and Tobago, at 6 o'clock, it will be Jamaica against Guyana, and all four teams are gunning for a place in the semi-finals where it will be the winners of the first match against Nevis and the winners of the second against Grenada.
With Grenada winning a place into the semi-finals through the Duckworth/Lewis system following their rain-affected match with St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Nevis, in a devastating mood, waltzed into the last four with a surprising and emphatic victory over Antigua on Wednesday night.
Impressive total
Batting first, Nevis, led by Tonito Willett, who cracked an undefeated 86 with eight fours and five sixes off 44 deliveries, eased to a really impressive 213 for three and destroyed the match as a contest long before Antigua, 68 for seven at one stage before recovering to 170 for nine, had even started their reply.
As the balls flew to the boundary and over it easily and monotonously on Wednesday, however, and particularly so during Willett's gem under the flood lights, there were those around Kingston who again questioned the benefit to West Indies cricket of the tournament.
According to them, the Stanford Twenty/20 brings nothing to the table, and in terms of the development of West Indies cricket, it certainly does not. When, for example, it comes to batting, it is difficult to see the Stanford Twenty/20 producing another George Headley, another Gary Sobers, another Viv Richards, and another Brian Lara.
And when it comes to elegant and classic batting, it certainly will not produce another Frank Worrell or another Lawrence Rowe.
Cricket, however, is cricket, it is bat hitting ball, the more cricket played, the merrier it will be, and especially at this time when cricket, particularly West Indies cricket, is suffering from a lack of support at all levels, in all aspects of the game, and particularly so in its fan base, the Stanford Twenty/20 has a part to play.
Five days is too long for some fans, one day is too long for some fans, and who to tell, Twenty/20, played after work in the late afternoons, in the evenings and in the nights, may just be the answer to getting back some fans, and their families, to the game, and if that happens, as it seems to be happening every where Twenty/20 is now being played, then that is great.
Whether the fans are attracted because it is a shorter, more accommodating version of the game, whether they enjoy it more because of the helter-skelter pace of the game and the many fours and sixes that are hit, the point is that if they enjoy it they may get hooked and start watching and supporting the game at all levels.
On top of that, some little boys, and girls, now watching from the helm of their mothers skirts may fall in love with the game and may one day become the next Sobers or the next Vivalyn Latty-Scott.
The sound of bat hitting ball is as sweet in a Twenty/20 match as it is in a one-day game or a Test match, and in launching his Twenty/20, in marketing his Twenty/20, Allen Stanford has always said, not that he hopes to produce a world champion team for the West Indies, but that his vision was simply that it will be "a catalyst for a resurgence of love for the game."
And some three years ago, shortly after he had introduced this version of the game to the world, Stuart Robertson, a marketing man from England, said that it should be looked at as a means to an end, not an end in itself - and that it should be viewed not as a sport, but as a marketing method with a slice of pizzazz.
