A Boy, a Man and a Game

Book excerpt: This book encapsulates the experiences of a five year old boy from the time he was fortunate to have witnessed a village cricket game sometime in 1949 in a far off field in Berbice, British Guiana. It was a defining moment of his life as the love of the game took hold of him then and in his later adult life. The story is centered around his adulthood in attending the first ever Cricket World Cup Tournament, held in the Caribbean in 2007 which is attended by him and a number of his son’s friends. Being surrounded by cricket literally on a 24/7 basis for the week; childhood and young adult memories pertaining to the game are evoked and these he shares with his audience. He shares with us some of the “memorable” games in which he took part. He also shares his experiences of some of the cricket teams to have visited Guyana from the 1950s to the 1980s. He unabashedly lets his audience know that he considers the period of the 60s and 70s to be the eras with which he associated his fondest memories. The great West Indian players Rohan Kanhai and Gary Sobers are his heroes. He also describes for his audience the other great cricketers from England, Australia, India, and Pakistan whom he had been able to see perform at the famous Bourda cricket ground in Georgetown, Guyana. In the final chapters he assesses the state of the game of cricket in the world today and the changes which the game had to undergo in order to survive in the fast-paced modern world. He ends his story by recounting with some of his grandchildren recounting cricket games in St. Lucia so as to introduce them to this game on which he has been hooked! He recounts that they thoroughly enjoyed the experience.