Just the way the Brazil is synonymous with soccer and Tom with Jerry, West Indies cricket has always been synonymous with fast bowlers, with batsmen who had more flair than wood in their willows; and with calypso.It’s been a long time since the Calypso Kings have composed for the West Indian team’s success even though Brian Lara’s epic innings have been chronicled in musical notes. The West Indian team which shocked England at the Oval on Saturday night will probably want to knight Trinidadian singer David Rudder who composed Rally Round the West Indies in the late 1980s when the Caribbean hold on world cricket was losing its grip.But maybe someone ought to create a single for this bunch of beach boys who shocked the world on Saturday in fading light. ‘‘Someone should,’’ opener Wavell Hinds told The Indian Express. ‘‘But maaan, this win is not a flash in the pan.’’Hinds also believes that his team thoroughly deserves to revel in the win because of all the criticism that was piled on them over the past few years. ‘‘We were overtly criticised for our inconsistent performance. Maybe they were right because we were not winning much. But I believe we are a better ODI team than a Test team.”Sitting still in the dressing room beside skipper Lara when the eighth wicket fell, Hinds was still hoping against hope. ‘‘Brian kept telling me that we would win. It is the nature of West Indians to never give up. We just had to win for the people devastated by the hurricane. The Lord wanted us to bring them some joy.’’Chris Gayle couldn’t sit down in the dressing room from the moment he walked back having tamely patted a catch back to Steve Harmison. ‘‘I just couldn’t sit still. I have never been so nervous in my life. The tension was simply killing and I kept coming in and out to the balcony,’’ Gayle told this reporter.Gayle carried on: ‘‘We have been trying bloody hard. It has been a good summer for some individuals but the team was building itself for the future. This is heading for something big for the team. Hopefully more kids will want to play cricket instead of American sports.’’The preparations were precise, bowlers measuring their run ups, batsmen studying their previous dismissals and working out ways to counter the conditions. Man of the tournament Ramnaresh Sarwan told us, ‘‘I was looking to manoeuvre the ball in the gaps and it has ben working well for me for the last few months. We learnt that in England you have to play straight and play patiently and hope that the ball doesn’t hit the edge of the bat.’’Hinds is also full of praise for Lara who fought against the odds and braved criticism even from Sir Vivian Richards. ‘‘Lara led from the front. He was the number one fielder for us with three catches and a superb run out. He doesn’t say much but yet conveys all a leader should,’’ said Hinds.For his part, Lara can rejoice the fact that while Richards never led his team to a World Cup win, he has managed to win the Champions Trophy. Two-and-a-half years and half a world away, Lara might have that chance when the West Indies host the World Cup. The omens are good.
