Lance Neita | We want our Sabina Park back

The West Indies vs Australia 2025 cricket series at home will be ever remembered as “gone, but not forgotten”. Nor forgiven. West Indies cricket has been on the decline for decades but this latest episode is beyond belief. The Test match in Kingston may be named the Sabina 27, or more pungently, the Sabina shame.

Not to crow over the dismal performance and the disgraceful loss, but the memory of that game should stick in the craw and serve as a reminder that a nation does not live by bread alone, but by the pride and image, identity and character, that justifies its significance on the world stage.

It is our cricket, honed over 100 years of defeats and fightbacks, losses and triumphs, agony and great joy, that has provided a bulwark of achievement and superiority in a cyclical drama where the planet’s most multicultural game is played.

The cricketers and administrators who rolled over and played dead last month (July) appear not to have any inkling whatsoever of the damage they have done to people who saw their hard-fought gains of authenticity and national pride thrown to the winds by the classless display of ‘ketchy shubby’ or ‘bowl fe bat’ which was on display at Sabina that day.

There are several parallels to another national disgrace on the field of sports, the ones that shocked the great football titans of Brazil at World Cup levels in 1950 and 2014, and oh how their people writhed and moaned and shed uncontrollable tears in their moment of absolute humiliation and shame.

There are some countries where sports matters to the national psyche. My friend who knows what he is talking about tells me that cricket is a religion in India. Football is deeply intertwined with Brazil’s national identity, culture, and psyche, often representing more than just a sport.

On July 16, 1950, with Brazil host to the World Cup and preening themselves as sure winners against rivals Uruguay it seemed natural that the home team would triumph in front of 200,000 Brazilian fans in the Maracanã stadium.

Everyone recognised the talent of the Brazilian national team, and the team’s fans had so much confidence that they were celebrating victory before the final match had even taken place.

The press and public alike had already declared Brazil as champions. “You, who have no rivals in the entire hemisphere, you, who in less than a few hours will be hailed as champions” declared Rio de Janeiro mayor Angelo Mendes de Moraes in a pre-game address. “I already salute you as winners!”

And on the morning of the match the streets of Rio de Janeiro burst into carnival with thousands dancing and chanting, “Brazil must win”.

The country’s embarrassment

To the country’s embarrassment the team was defeated 2-1 and Brazil immediately went into mourning. The entire country had been so invested in the success of its team that it was not emotionally prepared for a defeat.

ldo Rebelo, the Brazilian minister of sport, suggested that “losing to Uruguay in 1950 not only impacted on Brazilian football. It impacted on the country’s self-esteem.” Brazil was effectively paralysed emotionally and psychologically as a result of what they still call the Maracanazo, a national tragedy.

And if you are looking for another near parallel to our performance, it was said that Flavio Costa, the coach of the Brazilian team, discretely exited the stadium disguised as a nanny.

We are certainly not as emotional as our Latin American neighbours, and in our moments of disgrace we have instead responded with humour and the Jamaican ‘R’ word as suffice.

The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonzales attempts to console with the joke about his friend who has turned to humour, advising that the Cricket West Indies should open a duck farm, ‘after all, seven of the batsmen scored zeroes, or ducks in local parlance”.

But be careful, West Indies, as Brazil’s dreams of making a return to the World Cup final in their home country in 2014 were crushed after a stinging 7-1 loss to Germany in the semifinals. The humiliating match has since been dubbed the Mineirazo, the historic shame.

Is that double blow for Brazil indicative of another Sabina 27 on the cards, or will the CWI finally retreat from its centre pole position, begin listening to the cries of the people, and give serious attention to the turnaround deemed necessary for a rebuild and a renewal.

Picking up the pieces

Although Brazil is still mourning the shameful loss to Germany, they are picking up the pieces as the postmortems have seen a soul-searching enquiry with no holds barred and major changes made to team and administration as Brazil looks towards the future.

Since the Mineiroza the team has rebuilt. Brazil, my team, still remains the only nation to qualify for every World Cup. They were in the quarter finals in 2018 and 2022, have already qualified for 2026, but sadly, looking like a spent force with their loss to nemesis rivals Uruguay in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Copa America Tournament.

As a side bet, Brazil will still have Neymar in ’26, and Vinicius Junior peaking at the right time as the winger finished second in Ballon d’Or voting in 2024 while leading Real Madrid to a UEFA Champions League trophy.

And what about old ‘spent force’ West Indies?

The fans are outraged, but so far, no signs of remorse from the management, no heads rolling, no discrete exits. It will be interesting to see whether the Sabina 27 can have a long-term positive effect on our cricket or whether it will only serve as a constant reminder that we are doomed to Level 3 with coach and present players carrying on regardless.

Over to you, our former Test players. We want our Sabina Park back.

Lance Neita is a political satirist and public relations professional. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and lanceneita@hotmail.com