W.I.: Winning but still not victorious

Finally, and I do mean finally, the West Indies have started looking like a team. Not even a team to beat but simply a team! I have been a huge critic of the players and their attitudes towards the game over the past few years and have not seen anything other than glimpses of brilliance and horrific and disheartening lack of pride. However, since the ICC Champions Trophy has started the team has slowly started to move themselves into a position of authority. Making short work of all of their opponents even with a very ordinary, to say the least, bowling attack. True, they have not met any of the bigger names in the short version of the game but two of the opponents were very powerful teams who can at any time destroy the best teams. I am more than happy to congratulate the team but it seems that others attempt to attribute the wins to external factors other than the good play of the West Indies.

One article on www.cricinfo.com even tries to figure out why the Pakistani captain chose to bat first and attributed the loss of the game to that. The wicket obviously suited fast bowling as was evident by the damage to both Brian Lara's pride and his neck/chin by a lightening fast delivery from the Rawalpindi Express. Why is it so difficult to say that the West Indians deserved the wins? Why is it so difficult to praise the antics of Bravo and Sarwan? I will tell you why, it is because the cricketing world is still afraid of the potential of the West Indies!

If the players can continue to believe that they are the best players in the world and can be proud to wear the maroon cap they will eliminate all competition. I have faith, albeit stretched and thin, that they can beat England in the finals. Maybe then, when the captain holds aloft the Champions Trophy, the world will see that there still is some fire in the Caribbean.