Kunapipi XXVI:1

CHARLES HAWKSLEY
The 2007 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean: A Straight Drive to Regional Integration?

INTRODUCTION
For cricket purists, Test cricket is the only game to watch. An international contest between two teams lasts up to five days and requires skill, perseverance and grace in batting, while demanding endurance, tactics, skill and guile when bowling and fielding. For cricket aficionados, Test contests are rewarding and challenging as the balance of the game fluctuates over two innings a side, and the pressure of the event can expose as many frailties in individuals as it can reveal aspects of strong character. Watching a batsman play himself in and then build a big score can take all day, but it can be a very enjoyable one as a spectator, often seated in the outer ground or in the grandstand, preferably partaking of some liquid refreshment. There is the thrill of seeing a master batsman take a bowling attack to pieces or watching a fast bowler devastate opposing batsmen in short bursts. Equally enthralling can be a spinner weaving his magic on a final day turning pitch when the fielding side just needs those last two wickets to win the game, while spectators hope vainly that the no. 10 and no. 11 batsmen can hang on for an honourable draw in the final overs. But such cricketing delicacies take time, so it was perhaps inevitable that in the revolution of media and communications developed in the 1960s and 1970s, ‘extravagances’ such as a five-day game would be revised to fit with the demands of immediacy.

In 1963 the game of ‘limited overs’ cricket, known now as ‘one-day’ cricket, was introduced into the English county competition (Pollard 662). In this style of cricket two teams bat for one innings each on the same day for a limited number of overs. The game still takes about eight hours, but there are fewer long breaks and there are restrictions on field positions within the first 15 overs. Initially limited overs cricket was for 60 overs a side but the standard format has become 50 overs per side.1 At first such a break with tradition attracted enormous hostility. The new game was described by traditionalists as a ‘circus’ or ‘pyjama cricket’ owing to the colourful clothing adopted by national teams. Ironically, the very commercialisation of the game provided a lifeline to Test cricket, which was suffering from dwindling crowds and stale television coverage. The revenue gained from the more frequent one-day international competitions (or ‘ODI’ as they are now known), played usually before or after the Test series, assists national cricket teams to finance their tours, to develop new cricketing talent, and to pay elite players in an era of professionalism. For purists, the short version of the game has moved from an anathema to a necessary evil.