The home of T20

Psychologist Ashis Nandy once wrote that cricket was an Indian sport accidentally discovered in England.While the jury is still out on that one,the theory can be applied more aptly to t20 format.Like most things in cricket, the twenty20 format was developed in England.So much so that twenty20 with Roman alphabets and Indo Arabic numerals are only used in the UK. But t20 was ingrained into the culture of the various islands of the West Indies by Allan Stanford, an American now in jail for financial misdemeanours. Cricketers from the West Indies play in leagues as afar as Zimbabwe and Newzealand.  Cricketers from the West Indies are widely popular in cricket playing world and several of them make millions from cricket across the World. T20 does appear to be a West Indian format accidentally discovered in England.

Rally Round the West Indies

""One People, One Team, One Goal" said Darren Sammy throughout the World Twenty 20.His team rallied around him and the vanquishing of Australia to dust and a more old fashioned victory over Sri Lanka have once again brought the West Indies at the place where they were in 1975 when Lloyd lifted the World Cup in 1975. It was a hard fought 17 run win over Australia.They were talked of as favourite before the tournament but nearly lost to Pakistan in the group game when a resolute last wicket stand saw them through. They went on to lose disastrously in Australia later that year but by the time of the next World Cup were unanimous favourites and continued in 1983 as well when India spoiled their party.

West Indies can build on this victory or fritter it away.As people keep saying cricket needs West Indies.With them on board the cricket World has more than 20 nations playing serious cricket.Twenty Twenty offers the boys in the Carribean opportunity far greater than the NBA.And it offers an opportunity to Darren Bravo as well as Narine.The East Indian West Indian as Naipaul called them are as much integral to the West Indies Team as the Afro Carribeans.

If nothing else, this victory has established that the decline of the West Indies Cricket has at least been arrested if not reversed.