The T20 World Cup presents a match up between teams which can be said to be coming from, to quote Kipling, “the ends of the earth”.
They come both literally and figuratively from two distant corners of the cricketing world.
While English cricket owes a lot to its County set up as well as modern adaptations, they remain traditional as do their fans.
The Test match is the real thing and the Ashes the prime crown to play for.
The West Indies, once a proud Test team, are anachronistic entity in this day and age.
They are a group of sovereign nations coming together to play cricket, yet nations such as Jamaica are able to get more medals at the Olympics than several full Test-playing countries.
Their population being small, their cricket cannot survive the way it has in India, England and Australia.
Television rights, sponsorships and large gate attendances have strengthened their cricketing economy.
The West Indies Cricket Board recently changed its name to Cricket West Indies but their financial situation remains critical.
It is here that the IPL and other T20 leagues have helped finance not regional cricket but economic well being of the cricketer.
The aspiring cricketer in the West Indies need not aspire to play for the West Indies to make money.
Like Ewen Lewis, they may have T20 contracts even before establishing themselves in first class sides.
Most of the present West Indies line-up at the T20 World Cup have not played Tests for some time and represent one T20 franchise or another.
Some have retired from Tests and first class cricket. Yet, despite this, they have lucrative contracts in IPL, Big Bash, Bangladesh Premier League and the Caribbean Premier League.
Lendl Simmons was at home in Mumbai where he plays for Mumbai Indians. Chris Gayle is Virat Kohli’s teammate at Royal Challengers Bangalore.
IPL has given cricket in the West Indies an outlet that seemed to be disappearing.
Athletics and basketball had charms which cricket could hardly fulfil.
Today, cricketers earn well, live a good life and are internationally well known – and they do not even have to be a Frank Worrell or a Brian Lara for that.
Simmons will do, thank you very much.
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