SO, HOSTS the West Indies are on the verge of crashing out of Cricket World Cup before the semi-final stage and the tournament so far has been beset with a myriad of other problems.
Well, don't you dare blame the ICC, the LOCs or even the players themselves for all of them.
Our lack of self-belief and interest in the tournament as West Indians has had as much to do with its failure, if you choose to call it that, as anything else has.
Four embarrassing defeats in the Super Eights and quite a few people are now embarrassed to be West Indian. However, when you really think about it, the seeds of their failure were sown long ago, weren't they? While we may blame the captain and selectors for the team's poor performance, there is another aspect that we have chosen to ignore.
The doubt and dare I say even self-defeatist attitude that we have had in regards to hosting the tournament from the start have finally trickled right down to the players and has been evident in their attitude on the pitch.
Outside of the first game in front of an almost packed Sabina Park, the team has not seemed to have the energy or the passion to play and how many times since have we seen them simply drop their heads when the going has got tough?
Clear message
We sent them a very clear message with a virtually empty venue at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, an embarrassment to the region, when they faced world champions Australia. Venues after that have received a good turn out, but that match should have set the tone for the rest of the tournament.
Yes, we know that the tickets may have been a bit overpriced by the organisers, but how long have we known that the World Cup would be held on Caribbean soil.
I hardly think that one would attempt to attend a world-class event like this without planning years or months in advance.
Surely, if there had been a real desire to attend, money would have been put aside for that venture. One problem stems from the fact that many looking around at our narrow streets and third-world facilities never believed the tournament could be held here in the first place.
The organisers had grief putting some things in place, either from the local governments or as a result of the lack of support from corporate entities.
Passion lost
However, more importantly and perhaps an even sadder state of affairs stems from the fact that many of us have lost the love and passion for the game. We expect the team to lose every time they go out on the pitch and for the most part they do. In fact, we have probably lost an entire generation to the flashier, faster-paced American sports in recent years.
Hoops have replaced wickets in many of our inner-city communities and just ask the average adolescent or young adult on the street the score on a given day, or about the World Cup, and you will likely receive a response like "I don't really follow cricket."
It has become a sport for losers and nothing in recent times, whether our string of dismal results or depressing attitude towards the sport, seems set to slow cricket's slow death.
Mello, our fuzzy, warm and brightly-coloured mascot, is geared towards getting those 12 and under to embrace the sport, let's hope for the sake of the region that he has a better innings than some of our batsmen have had during this tournament.
Feedback: kwesi.mugisa@gleanerjm.com.
