William 'Billy' Hall, Contributor

Cricket has never been comfortable with her 'prophets'. In 1953, few if any cricket 'prophets', perhaps more accurately called 'experts' and 'predictors', gave the West Indies a chance of defeating England. But the West Indies did and that started it for the WI as a world cricketing power.

This time round, after nearly two decades of top-of-the-world status under Frank Worrell, Garry Sobers and Clive Lloyd, the team is up for prophetic 'casting of lots' under the leadership of Brian Lara, whose rise in name has been marked by the team's fall in fame.

Whether there is any connection between the rise of Lara and the fall of the WI team might never be decisively ended by discussion and speculation. However, as the time draws near for the clash of the titans in the stadiums of the West Indies, the moot question is whether the giant Lara will surprise like Biblical Samson and make his last show of strength his greatest.

Cricket World Cup, the second most popular and famous team sport in the world, is a triumph for British cultural generation and domination. Only soccer World Cup is ahead as a team sport. Yet, cricket holds pride of place for skill versatility, dexterity, situational complexity and intensity.

Yet, who would dare deny that in this age of media communication cricket domination honours come almost as an anachronism. Can it last? How can any country with a productive workforce afford time to attend so many hours and days to watch cricket? With the emphasis on modern media for shorter games, with time breaks to facilitate advertising and hype, how can cricket survive the onslaught of such sometimes strong and always pragmatic and subtle demands for change?

Jamaica, with a population of just under three million is the third largest English-speaking country of the Western Hemisphere. First is the U.S.A. and second is Canada. But none of those countries is a cricketing power.

Of the entire Caribbean, all the more than a dozen English-speaking countries have a combined population of fewer than seven million. This means in effect, a smaller combined population of Spanish-speaking Cuba (11 million) and as well, a smaller combined population of French-speaking Haiti (nine million). No Spanish-speaking country anywhere in the world is a cricketing power.

There is a link

Indeed, the conclusion may be drawn that there is a link between cricket and the Church of England, for Spanish-speaking countries are predominantly Catholic. However, politically, the link might be more pertinently made between British colonialism and cricket. Those links would have good basis for arguments wider than occurrences on the cricket field. No wonder that astute West Indian philosopher of colonialism and cricket, C. L. R. James of Trinidad and Tobago, entitled his masterpiece Beyond a Boundary.