Budget Day. As usual, many citizens are waiting to hear what goodies are coming their way this year. Most are focused on Finance Minister Colm Imbert. What, they are asking, will the Finance Minister deliver today? But some others, not so much. What ball, we untypical Trini cricket fans are …
Read More »Early Bird: Told ya! GAW put karmic classic cutarse on complacent TKR
Calmer than you imagine any Trinbago cricket fan would be, Bobby smirked his way through our entire fo’daymorning Republic Day walk. A smirk is a kind of fleeting oral halo. It is a personal recognition of if not saintliness, at least rightness. Maybe not every time, it concedes-cum-brags, but this …
Read More »Remembering Shirvan Pragg: “one of the best all-rounders West Indies never had”
It’s coming up to 41 years since Shirvan Pragg left us. The car accident that took his life in November 1982 will never be forgotten by so many of us. I was on the other side of the universe, in southern France, when news of Shirvan’s fatal accident reached me. …
Read More »Vaneisa: Saluting cricketers in a league of their own
So far, in not writing about cricket for eight columns straight (I am sticking to my story that they are really about Caribbean societies), I have avoided naming any contemporary players. But I want to veer away a bit and talk about some CPL events, and that entails some name-calling. …
Read More »Early Bird: Echoing Denyse Plummer; TKR support nah leaving—it’s more than cricket
That Monday morning when Bobby sent me back to the 1950s and an old Sparrow kaiso about Carnival queens, Denyse Plummer was still with us… Fo’daymorning. I pull up in front of his house as usual to start our walk to the Eddie Hart Savannah. On the way, he makes …
Read More »Vaneisa: Build communities by teaching youths “histories of ourselves”
When Gordon Rohlehr and Brinsley Samaroo died recently, the torrent of tributes celebrated their contributions to the world. Especially significant was the consistent references to their generosity with knowledge—the way they shared without regard for financial remuneration or public recognition. Along with the indefatigable Bridget Brereton, they have been exemplars …
Read More »Vaneisa: Teaching our history to younger generation would enrich our societies
Discovering Frank Worrell through a comic book was a powerful moment in my primary school days. A voracious reader, I was growing up with the idea that heroic figures were remote figures from faraway lands. The one major investment in books in our home had been a set of encyclopaedias …
Read More »Orin: Pooran, a global superstar on the rise, bridges political divide
“[…] Last month, the 27-year-old Nicholas Pooran made what turned out to be a smart decision. He made himself unavailable for the One Day International series against India, and opted to play in the first American Major League Cricket final in Dallas. His stunning 137 not out off 55 balls …
Read More »Dear Editor: T20I series win over India shows WI have “talent, tools and right people”
“[…] We were two nil up against India, and left it to the last game to seal the series. I see self-confidence, those guys are holding their nerve, and backing themselves, despite being under threat. “Same with England not too long ago, hopefully we can repeat that later this year. …
Read More »Vaneisa: The rush of blood—education changes minds, not violence
We are already far down the road where even if we can string words together, we cannot process ideas. There was a time when our oppressed peoples fully embraced the concept that the way to shake off their shackles was through education, and they went at it with great commitment …
Read More »Can Dr Rowley resurrect T&T cricket and keep self-help from wrecking the enterprise?
Booty, you have probably heard, is in the eye of the beholder. Ask Jack Warner. Haitian officials complained that the lion’s share of US$750m—sent to Warner-controlled accounts by Fifa and a presidential candidate for the world governing body—never made it to the impoverished island, who were desperate for relief after …
Read More »Vaneisa: Intelligent cricketers good; re-educated Caribbean societies better
Two aspects of the situation in West Indies cricket have to be addressed in tandem with each other. The first is for the future: rebuilding capacity all round, and the second is figuring out how to get current performances back to a respectable level. The former is the gargantuan task …
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