A flag at the CPL

Many of us have been paying close attention to the progress of cricket franchises over the past few weeks in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The contest moves to Guyana today.

Friends who know my obstinate views on this have been quick to point out that what is important is who “hosts” the respective cricketing business enterprises and not who comprises the various teams. Good point.

This, they say, is the important factor to bear in mind. Fine, because it supports my point. This is not like other major sporting franchises where cities (and not countries) act as hosts – IPL, Big Bash, NFL, La Liga, EPL etc.

So, how did “national pride” and “patriotism” come into this?

The trouble is, since I raised this in the early years, such irrational passions have intensified. For example, when I switched allegiance from the “T&T Amazon Warriors” (my joke) to TKR this season (btw, there’s no country anywhere in the world named “Trinbago”), my friends and colleagues in the oil-rich South American republic were quick to brand the transition as treasonous.

It’s just that when Pakistani-American Ali Khan bowled Barbadian batsman Shai Hope during last week’s encounter at Queen’s Park Oval, I found it hard to visualise a vigorously waved T&T flag as a naturally occurring, sensible part of the picture.

Correspondingly, I cannot recall anything of the sort during the West Indies Rising Stars Under 15s Championship earlier this year. This event featured national teams. Neither were there wildly waved national flags at the Brian Lara Stadium in March when the real T&T cricket team was beaten to a frazzle by an authentic Guyanese outfit.

So, this CPL thing really has nothing to do with “patriotism” or faux jingoistic pride. But, as I advised right here six years ago “if you use a national flag in the branding of any product, you can convert support into passion, affection into love, and a simple contest into a war.”

This came into pathetic view in 2018 when our T&T national flag was trampled on the ground at Providence Stadium by “patriotic” Guyanese fans on whose CPL team then resided the likes of Rayad Emrit and Jason Mohammed.

This year, local content ambitions conspired to omit even a solitary T&T presence on the GAW team and there has been accompanying social media dialogue. Yet can anyone say where Odean Smith gets his pepperpot? Or identify Azam Khan’s favourite fruit stand at Bourda Market?

Likewise, the lady with the JA flag on Saturday should have asked Amir Jangoo which pan jerk vendor around Kingston was his favourite or whether Chris Green preferred Papine Market over Coronation.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think the CPL has done more to excite interest among West Indians in the game of cricket than any other current platform. It is also a very well organised series.

Even so, this is about the game of cricket and not “West Indies Cricket” which is a virtual irrelevance in at least the four Caricom countries whose populations have zero interest in the game. The regional movement’s contribution of time and resources toward the sport – in its manifestation as “West Indies Cricket” - has probably (and quite justifiably) led to questions about the allocation of membership dues.

But anywhere national flags are being waved, it is difficult to apply rigour and reason. The fact is, (and I revisit my 2018 call to reason) “West Indies Cricket” (not the game of cricket) - as an expression of a coherent Caribbean ethos - has not existed in a very long time. There is no educational force-feeding or social engineering capable of reversing the process among the millennials.” It’s long over.

Indeed, imprisoned swindler, Allen Stanford, was on to something long before anybody else when he launched his 20/20 tournament in 2006 – in that instance with real flags representing actual countries.

I have a good friend who is one of the greatest post-facto (seconds after the game has ended) supporters of sports teams. So, today it’s St Lucia Kings, but he can easily pivot to whoever beats them on any given day.

But even he is often quick to point out that a win for SLK is not necessarily a win for Saint Lucia since the CPL is not a contest to identify “the best national cricket team in the Caribbean.”

To claim otherwise would be almost as foolish as concluding that a country is the best in the world at something when the rest of the world is not considered part of the equation. The CPL does not determine the best country at cricket in the Caribbean. It is great fun and excellent skills are on display. Why can’t it just be that?