Tony Becca, Contributor

JACK WARNER, the big man in Caribbean football and one of the big men in world football from Trinidad and Tobago, has said, loud and clear for all to hear, that Caribbean governments have wasted taxpayers' money on cricket and they should stop doing so.

According to Warner, cricket is dead in the region and the governments should stop being sentimental. They should face the facts and stop throwing away the people's money.

Well, Warner was talking foolishness - either that or he did not know what he was talking about.

Apart from renovating a few old stadiums and building a few new ones to host the World Cup, the governments, despite all their many promises, have never spent one cent on West Indies cricket.

The money spent on renovating and building stadiums was not for cricket.

It was to host the many thousands of visitors who were expected for the event and from whom the governments, and the general public, had hoped to make millions of dollars.

It is as simple as that.

Money not spent for cricket

The money spent on things like road repairs, on cleaning up the cities, towns and villages, on planting trees and flowers, on hospitals and on security was also not for cricket.

It was spent to impress and to protect the thousands of visitors.

It is also interesting to note tha it was not done for them, Jamaicans, for example, and thank God for that, are now enjoying things like better roads and cleaner cities and towns, and should be benefiting from better-equipped hospitals.

No, Mr. Warner, even if you are right that cricket in the region is dead or dying, the governments have not and did not spend the people's money on cricket.

What is important also, is tha the standard of cricket in the region may not be as good as it was for so long, an the West Indies team may not be as strong as it was for so long, cricket in the West Indies, and especially so in Jamaica, is far from dying much less dead.

To appreciate that, one has only got to look at the number of schools now playing the game and the attendance in the city is poor, at the number of people watching the game in the rural areas.

On a Sunday, for example, it is nothing but cricket in St. Elizabeth. It is once again almost the same in many parishes and it is getting to be the same in Portland - and particularly so in West Portland where five lovers of the game - Michael Palmer, a taxi driver, Ancil Lindo, Delroy Edwards, Frank Watson and Carlton McFarlane, have organised a Twenty20 competition among 16 teams.

Action at three venues

Last Sunday I went visiting, I visited three venues. I saw action at Skibo on the bank of the Spanish River, at Chepstowe, and at Swift River. I saw large crowds including grandfathers, grandmothers, grandsons and granddaughters, and I saw some typical big hitting and the usual medium to medium-fast bowling.

I never saw the next Maurice Foster nor did I see the next Lawrence Rowe, and I never saw the next Michael Holding, the next Courtney Walsh and especially so and not surprising so, I never saw the next Alfred Valentine.

What I did see, however, on the small, rough fields was some wonderful fielding - on the ground and in the air.

The fielding was so good that I wondered how come someone who cannot field, someone who cannot even accept the simplest of catches, can get into a Jamaica team and into a West Indies team.

At Skibo, standing in the shade of a hairy mango tree and in line with the action, I saw, for example, a young man running in from mid-off, diving forward and coming up with a fantastic catch. It was so good a catch that the standing umpire had to explain what had happened to the protesting batsman.

At Chepstowe, I saw a batsman stretching his left foot forward and driving a pace bowler towards long-off, I saw a fielder, after giving chase and losing the race, diving, skidding along the dry grass and following the ball over the boundary, and I heard an old man shouting: "No flying, bwoy. A wah yu a gwaan wid? A kill you waan kill yuself?"

As far as young talent is concerned, cricket, it appears, is far from dead - and definitely so in the rural areas.

On Tuesday at Melbourne Oval in the JNBS national finals, I saw two youngsters who could, with the right attitude and enough good fortune, make it to the top.

Eleven-year-old Mark Parchment of Ballards Valley Primary used his feet well and stroked the ball nicely on both sides of the wicket, and 13-year-old left-hander Juvel Lawrence of New Forest All-Age stroked the ball confidently and powerfully and particularly so through the onside.

No Mr. Warner, cricket is not dead in the West Indies, nor is it dying. It is just not as good as it used to be.

The love is still there, however, so is the passion, so is the talent, particularly so in the rural areas, and definitely so in Jamaica.