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Divided over club, country

Published:Friday | August 9, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Assistant coach of the Jamaica Tallawahs, Junior Bennett (right), has a chat with players (from left) Andrew Richardson, André Russell and Danza Hyatt recently. - Colin Hamilton/Photographer

By Orville Higgins

The Caribbean Premier League is on in earnest, and though it may be early days, all signs indicate that it will be a successful tournament.

The fans have been turning out; the cricket, for the most part, have been exciting, and the television packaging of the spectacle looks on par with the best of the other 20/20 cricket leagues around the world. I like what I am seeing, but I have concerns.

For starters, all teams were told they had to pick two players under 23. Why that was I'm not sure, but as it turned out, teams have picked these players in their squad but aren't necessarily using them. Jamaica, for example, have picked Jermaine Blackwood and Akeem Dewar as our two under-23 players. The Jamaica Tallawahs have now played three games. Neither of these two has played a game yet, and both could find themselves in a position where they don't play in the tournament at all.

It seems a monumental mistake to insist that teams have players of a certain age in their squad, but not insisting that they must be played. What is the point? I heard that it was for development purposes, but I don't know that carrying water and towels is the best way to develop anyone.

Second, I am not sure about the drafting process, but every team, except Jamaica, has other Caribbean nationals. We had one in Ravi Rampaul, who pulled up injured and was replaced by Jamaican pacer Andrew Richardson. How is that? How is it that Jamaica didn't go for more Caribbean players outside Jamaica, or is that we were quite happy with our own?

I've heard whispers that it could be parochialism at work, but it might be nothing more than those who selected the Jamaica Tallawahs squad genuinely feel that given whom they had to choose from, the Jamaicans were the best bet. I hope that is the answer.

People in Trinidad and Tobago felt that the whole franchise thing was rigged against them. In fact, I've read somewhere that some people in Trinidad feel that the whole purpose of the CPL was to stop T&T's dominance of regional T20 cricket! I wouldn't go that far, but I understand their grouse.

franchise players

Three of their top players in Narine, Pollard, and Dwayne Bravo were deemed franchise players and, therefore, couldn't all stay in one place, and a few more of their top stars were picked up by the other franchises as well.

I understand that concept, but I also understand the Trinidadians' view. The idea of franchises competing against each other without a nationalistic background will take some time for us to get used to.

Unlike anywhere else where cricket is played at a high level, we don't conduct first-class cricket between clubs or states or provinces. We play country versus country, and the whole business of national pride has become part and parcel of how we have come to accept and relate to cricket in the region.

When I see Jamaica playing against Barbados, for example, in first-class cricket, I don't just see the game as merely a contest between two teams, but as a battle between two nations, where bragging rights and a feeling of national superiority, if only over four days, makes the game that much more meaningful.

ruined for life

It will take some time for me to watch two Bajans and a Trinidadian on a 'Jamaican' team and have the same tension and excitement about the result. Don't blame me for that. Almost three decades of watching and following regional cricket, where country takes on country, is in my blood, and has probably ruined me for life regarding the franchise system.

How about telling teams that they must pick four overseas-based players for their commercial value, but otherwise you must play your own nationals? That way the franchise rivalry still seems 'real'.

As it is now, I might no longer support a 'team', just individual players. So by next year, I might find myself cheering just as lustily for the exploits of the batting team as well as good performances on the bowling team. That experience will be completely new to me, and I'm sure as a spectator, I won't have the same buzz.

Franchise cricket may well be the best thing to happen to the game in the West Indies for a long while, but as a spectator? Hmmm. The jury is still out.

Orville Higgins is a sports journalist and talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.