Not much to shout about - Cozier on cricket

Pat Rousseau and Gregory Shillingford have been patting themselves on the back, hailing the success of the enlarged Busta Cup. And so they might.

The introduction of England "A" has, indeed, brought a new dimension to the tournament and some promising young players in the West Indies "B" team have been exposed to a higher level earlier than they would otherwise have been.

That's all well and good but the cricket itself remained of disturbing standard, more especially in the two areas on which West Indian strength has always been based: batting and fast bowling.

Of all the West Indian batsmen involved, only nine managed an average of better than 35.

It is a modest standard, yet only Travis Dowlin of Guyana (70.80), Leon Garrick of Jamaica (49.44) and Ryan Hinds of Barbados (36.00) of those yet to represent the West Indies were able to reach it.

The others were Carl Hooper, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Stuart Williams, Carl Tuckett and Lincoln Roberts. In contrast, five Englishmen posted averages above 40.

Of all the fast bowlers on show, the only one who made an impression on Ian Bishop was the 22-year-old Guyanese Reon Griffith and he was picked for only three matches for West Indies "B".

Bishop, himself an outstanding fast bowler and now a shrewd commentator on the game, is as qualified as anyone to make such a judgement and he reckons the West Indies will have to depend on spin for some time to come.

It is not a comforting thought for those who fondly recall the heady days of pace like fire.

The dearth of pace was so pronounced that, several times, spin bowlers were given the new ball.

West Indies "B", an Under-23 team picked specifically for the purpose of developing young talent, often opened the bowling with Kurt Wilkinson, who hardly bowls a ball of his medium-pace in Barbados club cricket, and left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn.

It was clearly defeating the purpose, although not more than the sight of captain Richie Richardson, at the age of 38 and never a bowler in his heyday, taking up 59.5 overs himself that would surely have been of more benefit to one of his young charges.

But perhaps the most disheartening reality was that Barbados actually won the Busta Cup.

This is, by any reckoning, a modest Barbados team and it played below itself.

It managed only one total above 300 in the seven matches and the only two centuries were by Roland Holder, surely in his last season of a long career, and Ian Bradshaw, coming in at No.7.

Their ground fielding has been shoddy and, even by their own count, they missed as many as 30 catches.

In Ryan Hinds, they have an immensely talented young all-rounder who will eventually be in the Test team. Corey Collymore is a spirited fast bowler battling against the ill luck of injury to return to the form that gained him a place on the West Indies team. Ryan Austin shows definite promise as an all-rounder. Otherwise, the team comprises mainly aging players who are nearer the end than the start of their careers.

It was experience that carried Barbados through on the final day against Trinidad and Tobago but that can't hide the fact that the majority have nowhere to go.

It was patently obvious in the matches I watched at Kensington where there was also a glaring indifference in Barbados' general deportment.

Seldom did the team take the field as a team but rather sauntered out from the Sir Garfield Sobers Pavilion, in widely separated groups of three or four, like a detail from Glendairy heading for a session of hard labour.

Somehow, they always seemed to leave someone behind so that the substitute invariably found himself engaged for a couple of overs after one interval or another.

This is the kind of slackness that you do not expect from the many seasoned campaigners on the team. It does the name of Barbados cricket no good and sets a bad example for those to follow.

Barbados may be the champions once more, for the 17th time, but there is little cause for celebration.