August 10, 2011 issue
Cricket
Tony McWatt
As predicated, my focus during the past two weeks since my last column had very little to do with cricket. Instead I was far too busy thoroughly enjoying the many attractions of this year's Toronto Carnival. Of these the most memorable was the outstanding performance of Carnival Nationz in capturing all the titles up for grabs in this year's competition amongst the participating Mas Bands.
At the July 28th King & Queen Show, Nationz sounded a warning to their rivals. They handily won all four Competitions, the Male and Female Individual titles, as well as the highly coveted King and Queen of the Band.
Domestic obligations prevented me from being in attendance at Lamport Stadium for the show. When I finally saw the Nationz' entries on the road during the Saturday Parade however, their superiority over all other entries was obvious for all to see.
As impressive as they must have been, Nationz' King & Queen Competition winning entries proved to be a mere appetizers for the presentation of their Mythical Creatures Band during the actual Parade. Having had my full of jumping up with my the Xpats Section in Louis Saldenah's Band, I made the trek back to the Media Tent, just in time to see Nationz cross "the stage", in front of the Judges.
To put Nationz' presentation in perspective, let me be the first to say that I have never been one to enjoy watching mas from the sidelines. My preference has also been to be in amongst the revelers, actively partaking of all the unencumbered joys that playing mas provides. I have to admit though that this year, I actually enjoyed watching Nationz parade before the judges far more than I did my time on the road.
For those who have had the privilege of experiencing Trinidad's Carnival at any time particularly within the past ten years, the best way to describe Nationz in front of the judges is to say that as a Mas Band, Mystical Creatures looked and felt as though it was Tribe. The sections were as impressive in color, style and size as anything I have ever seen from Tribe! The physical organization of the band was superb and the coordination of the music with the presentation of each section was a sight to behold.
I have had an active role, in one form or another, in almost every Caribana/Toronto Carnival Parade for the past twenty years. With that experience as an actual backdrop I think I am now qualified to say that Nationz' presentation this year, was arguably one of the very best the Parade has ever had. Quite frankly they have taken Toronto Carnival to a different level and have raised the bar to a standard that many of the other bands may struggle to emulate.
According to Louis Saldenah's son Ronnie, their second place behind Nationz this year provided a lot of useful lessons to be heeded. One of those must be that in order to have even the most remote hope of successfully competing with Nationz, Saldenah and company will have to become far more cohesive and organized as a unit.
As one insider puts it, Saldenah 2011 on the road felt and looked far more like 15 mini bands, each managed by an independent Section Leader, than it did a single unified entity. As a prime example within our own Xpats Section of 200-300 masqueraders, en route to crossing in front of the Judges, there were at least five "Chiefs" issuing oftentimes conflicting orders at the masqueraders.
Nationz' spectacular presentation during the Parade resulted in their much deserved capture of the Band of the Year title, to add to their King & Queen Competition triumphs. Their outstanding presentation occupied much of the conversation the next day, during the Dr Caldiera All Inclusive.
Somewhat surprisingly, the Caldiera All-Inclusive turned out to be my second most enjoyable event of this year's Carnival. The party lover that she is, my sister Donna had been singing the praises of All Inclusive to me every year for the past two Carnival seasons.
I finally decided to give it a look see this year to experience first hand for myself what the fuss was all about. In doing so I felt fairly confident that the presence of the Guyanese-oriented Fuh Fun, as one of the two participating live bands would be worth the price of admission.
As it has been on every occasion that I have partied with them, Fuh Fun's performance was a joy to behold. Their repertoire was the perfect blend of contemporary and retro soca, with a nice mix of R&B, reggae and oldies thrown in for good measure.
Raymond " Chinny" Leon's Triple Play, the other live band in attendance, also delivered some very enjoyable sets. As a result, in all honesty I'd have to admit that I had as good a time at the Caldiera fete as I'd done at the Dragonaires Cruise the previous Friday.
That should tell you how good it was. If it doesn't maybe the fact that as long as Fuh Fun will be there, the Caldiera All Inclusive will now be my number one "can't miss" event for next year's Toronto Carnival. That should say enough!
The Dragonaire's Friday Night Cruise's displacement as my most favored Carnival event is not to say in any way that it wasn't good this year. As usual, Jumo, Oscar B and the rest of the Band provided those in attendance with two memorable sessions of music that had almost everyone on their feet.
With each succeeding year however, I have found myself having an increasing dissatisfaction with the Empress of Canada as a suitable venue for such a Cruise. As good a band as they are, I think Byron Lee's Dragonaires deserve to be on a ship that would allow all those in attendance to enjoy their performance in an identical manner.
The ship's physical structure necessitates that the Band be on the much smaller upper level, performing live to a privileged sardine-like clustered few. The greater majority of patrons has to witness their performance via video feed, on the admittedly much less crowded and far more comfortable second level.
Given the wide availability of event choices during the Carnival, the need to provide equal value to all who chose to attend the Dragonaire's Cruise should now not be lost on the event's promoters. They would do well to start seeking a far more suitable alternative for next year's event.
All in all it was for me a quite enjoyable Carnival. Were it not for my engagement in some discussions with a few readers who approached me about my comments on Sammy's captaincy, I might have almost completely forgotten about the continuing carnival that Caribbean cricket has now become. I promise faithfully to get back to that reality in my next column.
Despite the spiralling riots in London and neighbouring areas, the third cricket Test between India and England will go ahead, officials said.
A press release by the Warkwickshire County Cricket Club said that the third Npower Test match between England and India will proceed as planned and play will begin at 11 am today as scheduled.
Steve Elworthy, head of communications for the England and Wales Cricket Board, said "it is business as usual and we are preparing to be ready to go tomorrow" (Wednesday).
"We are communicating with police but the usual protocols are in place", he said.
Indian and English cricketers have been asked to confine themselves to their hotel rooms ahead of the third Test after trouble spread to newer areas in London and nearby places.
A West Midlands police spokesman was quoted as saying by "Daily Mail" that at this stage there is no reason to suggest the Test will not go ahead.
Over 200 people have been arrested so far as the police continued to grapple with the violence started after a person was killed allegedly in police firing.
The unrest has since spread to Birmingham as well and the Indian and English cricketers have been asked to stay indoors to avoid trouble.
Indian team manager Anirudh Choudhry said that the players are watching with concern the developments following the riots.
An injury-affected Indian team is 0-2 down in the 4-match Test series. They are at risk of losing their number one Test status if they fail to win one of the two remaining matches.
India's main strike bowlers Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh have both returned home on account of injuries. Virender Sehwag who missed the earlier matches is expected to play.
Sri Lanka cricket captain Tillekeratne Dilshan said that the 2-0 LG Abans Twenty20 Trophy series victory over Cameron White's Australians would propel the team towards better performances against Australia in the One Day International series.
Addressing the post match news conference at Pallekelle International Stadium late Monday night, Dilshan remarked that Sri Lanka could win the One Day International series as well against the Aussies if they played with the same momentum and spirit, but conceded that the mechanics of the One Day International matches were different with different opposition in terms of players.
Responding to a question from as to why Sri Lanka effected two changes to the team for the second game after winning the first, when Australia did not make changes while being on the losing side, he defended the decision. "I was conscious of the Pallekelle wicket being slow which was the reason for recalling Ajantha Mendis, and the decision for the recall was also justified which resulted in creating a world bowling record of 6/16. He also defended the decision to play Thisara Perera who was brought in as batsman who could accelerate the scoring rate and bowler who also took a wicket.
Dilshan also stressed that the turning point of the match was when Angelo Mathews taking the catch to dismiss Warner with the score at 73 and added that the team would look forward to perform better with the confidence that it built up winning the Twenty20 series. Asked about the comment he made after winning the first Twenty20 game on Saturday about the need for improving fielding, he said that there were areas for improvement and that all players were enthusiastic about improving it. There are areas that we have to work out, he noted.
He also described Australians as strong in their fielding and stressed the need for improving in certain areas of fielding in order to effectively compete.
In a shocking development on Saturday, Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from One Day Internationals and T20s after the England series.
The 38-year-old made a statement to the effect shortly after India's practice game against the Northants.
Earlier in the day, the ace batsman had been picked for the upcoming ODI series against England.
"I am announcing my retirement from ODIs and T20s following the series against England. Thereafter, I will focus only on Test cricket," said Dravid.
"I have never discussed ODI cricket with anyone in the last two years and I feel it is the right time for me to focus solely on Tests," he added.
The Karnataka batsman hasn't featured in an ODI game in almost two years, having last played in the 2009 Champions Trophy .
Dravid has aggregated 10,765 runs in 339 ODIs (at 39.43), and that is inclusive of 12 centuries and a whopping 82 half-centuries.
He admitted his selection for the England series was a surprise, but added he had made his decision.
"In the short term it is an excitement, for sure. I was surprised, honestly!" admitted Dravid.
"But, in the long term, I would like to focus only on Test cricket," he added.