Staff writer - Nyasha Watson
This is nicer than the cricket. I am sorry but I think this is the best episode yet in the drama that is West Indies Cricket. I have already bought my popcorn and soda in anticipation of the next episode because that cannot miss me!!
In this latest episode, former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Lester Bird has come blasting fire in defense of Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller (Jamaica).
These are his words, “I wish to touch on the point of the response of Dr. Hilaire to the prime minister of Jamaica, the Hon Portia Simpson Miller. In His (Dr. Hilaire’s) response, he indicated that she did not know the facts and even reference how she should deal with a cabinet minister was at variance with her administration.
“Let me say to Dr. Hilaire, your response was disrespectful. You and the prime minister of Jamaica are not of the same rank. If you wish to be involved in matters of this level, you need some advice or training in diplomacy. We must maximize the power of cricket as an integrating force and use it to bind us as Caribbean people, not divide us.”
To this I say well said Mr. Bird cricket indeed should be an integrating agent for us in the Caribbean. However, politics is a dividing agent and when the two are mixed the result cannot be anything but an unbalanced mixture.
Former PM Lester Bird
Mr. Bird went further to state, “I want to make a call for the reinstatement of Chris Gayle. As far as I am concerned, he is more valuable to our cricket than Julian Hunte, Dr. Ernest Hilaire, Ottis Gibson and Darren Sammy, singly and collectively.
“If there was any doubt about the incompetence of the West Indies cricket administration or hope of a resurrected West Indies, the scheduling of the forthcoming Australian tour proves ample evidence of an organization that suffers from both incompetence and insensitivity.”
Thus to say that Mr. Bird spoke his mind would be an understatement. He had gone on to let his disapproval, for the countries that were given matches and who were left out, be known. So the cricketing public is now waiting to see if or when the WICB would respond to these damning accusations and the type of response that will be given.
