Recognising our sporting history

TIMES INT'L

Dear Editor,
Recently, I followed a most welcoming development in Berbice. Cricketing officials and enthusiasts were showcasing the 17 Berbicians who played Test cricket.
This was done via a huge billboard that was handed over to the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB). I was hoping that this kind of thing would have turned out to be most seminal. Maybe it would still inspire similar efforts from Demerara and Essequibo and hopefully extend to showcasing sporting heroes beyond cricket.
For a quick recap, the Berbician test players are John Trim, Rohan Kanhai, Basil Butcher, Joseph Solomon, Ivan Madray, Roy Fredericks, Alvin Kallicharran, Leonard Baichan, Clayton Lambert, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Narsingh Deonarine, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Brandon Bess, Devendra Bishoo, Assad Fudadin, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Veerasammy Permaul.
Many people still shun history; more do the same where sports history is concerned.
History is one of the greatest teachers we will ever find. Edmund Burke said that, if you wanted to avoid repeating mistakes of the past, you should learn what those mistakes were and how they came about. History is a guide book laid out before us. All we have to do is pick it up and read the best advice of all, that of the experience of others, from which we learn.
I did run in to Mark Harper about one year ago. He reminded me about the Kerry Packer era. In the 1978 game, Mark scored 94 and 71 against Bobby Simpson’s depleted Aussies. In that game, Timur Mohamed scored a century. Yet the West Indies test 11, led by Alvin Kallicharan, did not feature them. I wish some light can be shed here.
I hope someone within the sporting fraternity will do some work along these lines. However, job well done by the Berbice Cricket Board and I call on other counties and other disciplines to follow suit.
Sporting fan,
Yaswant Jailall

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