Tony BeccaJAMAICA'S DECISION to accept the offer of bad light when only four runs away from victory against the Leeward Islands at Kensington Park two Mondays ago continues to be a topic of discussion among cricket fans with a few in favour and the vast majority against.
According to those who backed the decision, Jamaica had already won the first innings points, they had only one wicket in hand and they could have lost that wicket with one delivery.
Also, if they had lost that wicket, instead of finishing on six points in a drawn match they would have ended with four points and instead of finishing with three points the Leeward Islands would have finished with 12 points eight more than Jamaica.
According to those against the decision, however, Jamaica, who won a first innings lead through the efforts of their last pair who posted 30 runs for the last wicket, were 29 runs away from winning the match when their last pair came together. At that stage they were facing defeat, they got to within four runs of winning the match due to the skill of their last pair, and to have stopped them from winning the match, to have robbed them of the opportunity to win the match, was simply not cricket.
And it was not cricket. It certainly was not in the best interest of the game.
Although it was a competitive game and part of a series in which the champions are decided by points won at the end of the competition, that match at Kensington Park was not the final, decisive game, and to have denied two tail-enders a chance of winning the game, to have robbed two tail-enders a chance of glory, with the fans caught up in the excitement of the situation and to have deflated them was not cricket.
As Baron Pierre de Coubertin said on July 24, 1908 at the banquet of officials of the Olympic Games, "the essential thing is not conquering but fighting well", and Jamaica did not fight well - at least not to the end.
What Jamaica did on that Monday afternoon at Kensington Park was show that they were timid, that despite the determination, the wonderful rearguard batting by tail-enders Odean Brown and Jerome Taylor, they were afraid of losing.
no confidence
Also, that despite a partnership of 25 that took them from the edge of defeat on to the doorstep of victory, they had no confidence in Brown and Taylor and if on another day Jamaica are in a similar position and those batsmen throw away their wickets, Jamaica will have no one to blame but themselves - or rather the management team who, according to captain Tamar Lambert, made the decision and who have continued to defend their decision.
On top of that, as they did a few years ago against Trinidad and Tobago at Sabina Park when, in a limited overs match, in a match they believed they could not win, they bored the spectators almost to death by pushing and blocking. And as they did last year against the Windward Islands in the semi-finals of the Carib Beer Challenge at Alpart when, after leading scoring 338, after dismissing the Windward Islands for 249 and virtually assured of qualifying for the final, they batted until after tea on the last day when, with the score on 372 for five and the lead 461, the disgusted fans threw bottles on to the field and stopped the match, Jamaica also showed that they have no respect for the spectators - for the fans who pay to see them play.
Times have changed - no doubt about, and sport today, probably because of professionalism, possibly because of nationalism, is not what it used to be.
Sport, however, is still entertainment, it is still a contest of skills, it is still a test of one's character, it is still something that makes people dream of great deeds - and particularly so against the odds.
It is still something in which the unexpected happens - in which one performance, a performance that sometimes lasts for a lifetime, turns apparent defeat into victory, and it was disappointing that after coming together with Jamaica 29 runs away from victory Jamaica did not allow Brown and Taylor to go for victory - for a victory that would not only have demonstrated the confidence of the defending champions, but one which also would have left the two tail-enders with a story to tell their children and their grandchildren.
