Tony Becca
THERE IS an old saying, it goes like this, "it is better late than never", and after years of ignoring each other, based on what happened last Friday and especially so what is on the cards for December, cricket and tourism seem to be getting together at last - really getting together.
Last Friday, a Jamaica Veterans XI, plus Gareth Breese and Daren Powell, took on a SuperClubs Invitational XI at Kaiser Sports Club in Discovery Bay, and it was a wonderful day.
In December, a Jamaica Invitational XI will take on the famous Lashings of England at the new stadium in Trelawny, and the promise is that that will also be a wonderful day. In fact, with a golf tournament, a beach cricket match and a dinner also planned, it promises to be a wonderful occasion.
With hotels around the island often times assisting cricket and sports in general with things like complimentary rooms and discounted rates, with the hotels involved in various competitions, with one like Grand Lido, Braco, hosting the Reggae Boyz, and with Sandals sponsoring the West Indies team to England in the past, the tourism sector, through the hotels, has been involved in sport in Jamaica.
Unfortunately, unlike in Barbados where it is well structured, where tourism and sport go hand in hand and help each one make more money not only for itself but also for the other, there has never been a partnership, at least not a real one, between tourism and sport in Jamaica - and that despite the fact that they seem made for each other, despite Jamaica's magnificent record in sport.
Tourism and sport
That has always baffled me - especially each time I visit Barbados and see the link between tourism and sport, the number of club cricket teams playing cricket all over Barbados and the number of tourists at Test matches at Kensington Oval.
It has always baffled me because although Barbados has produced more great cricketers than Jamaica, Jamaica has produced enough great ones to attract visitors, European visitors especially, to come to the island to enjoy the sun and sea, to see where the great ones were born, where they grew up and to play where they played.
It has always baffled me because when it comes to other sports, when it comes certainly to track and field, football and boxing, Barbados is way behind Jamaica.
Hall of fame
If only Jamaica, for example, had a hall of fame or something like that - something sited somewhere in the middle of the island, something showcasing the country's great achievements in sport down the years and something which portrays the lives of such great Jamaicans as George Headley, Michael Holding and Courtney Walsh, Herb McKenley, Arthur Wint and Merlene Ottey, Lindy Delapenha, Selwyn Murphy and Ricardo Gardner, Bunny Grant and Michael McCallum - something that would attract visitors from all over the world.
Last Friday was good - no question about that, and many thanks to SuperClubs.
It would be nice, really nice, if it could be staged every month or every other month right around the island. It would be good for spreading the gospel of cricket, and because it would keep the veterans in action and involved in the game, it would be good for Jamaica's cricket.
It was good, for example, to see, former captain Jimmy Adams once again driving off the back foot. It was also good to see Wayne Lewis, with his left foot right out to the pitch of ball, driving through the offside.
December, however, could be good for both cricket and tourism, it could therefore be good for Jamaica, and many thanks to Half Moon Hotel for getting involved.
The visit of Lashings could be the start of good things to come. It could be the start of many cricket teams coming to Jamaica, playing some cricket, lying in the sun, and spending some money.
