Courtney's consternation

During his playing days West Indies cricketing legend Courtney Walsh was the master of the ‘game face’. Brooding, menacing and intimidating was the look a hapless batsman was often subjected to from 16 yards at the end of his follow through. His heartless expression could rattle your brain cage!

Once you get to know the affable ‘Cuddy’, nothing is further from the truth as a flash of a warm, broad smile and some mischievousness is never too far away. He is a true gentleman with honest values at heart, but don’t …. I repeat …. don’t cross him!

With my work on various Stanford 20/20 projects I have had the good fortune of constant interaction with the 14 Stanford 20/20 Legends that Sir Allen Stanford has ingeniously involved. These 14 former West Indies players are some of the finest to ever grace the game and their belief and commitment in Allen Stanford’s initiatives are enormously commendable.

Every one of the 22 countries that participates in the Stanford 20/20 tournament is assigned one of these Legends for an eight-month period in the lead up to the next event to assist in whatever capacity he can. That requires numerous treks to the adopted region for coaching, financial allocation advice (Sir Allen pumps in US$280000 to each region) and general input regarding revival or the upliftment of cricket in the area.

I am constantly on the heels of these heroes as I travel to all 22 countries to film their interaction for my Stanford 20/20 Cricket Show which will hit the airwaves in August.

My latest sojourn took me to The Bahamas for five days where Courtney was on duty. I will never forget my first sighting of him upon my arrival. There he was, under a palm tree on the sun-drenched, immaculate beach deeply engrossed in a copy of his local paper, The Jamaican Gleaner. He was not smiling. His ‘game face’ was back and he was furious.

The front page of his daily read was emblazoned with the headline: ‘IT WASN’T MURDER, WE WERE TOO HASTY.’

This was the day that the Keystone Cops, more commonly know as the Jamaican Constabulary Force, sensationally announced they had botched Bob Woolmer’s death probe and subsequently irrevocably embarrassed Courtney’s country. They had seriously besmirched Jamaica’s reputation and the big man was incensed. With good reason.

The large black threatening cloud that was omnipresent throughout the World Cup as a result of Bob’s suspicious and untimely death tarnished a celebration of cricket. It also further stained Jamaica’s already undesirable crime status. Neither Jamaica nor Courtney needed this further humiliation.

The Keystone Cops were taken in by their own self importance and continuously fuelled speculation. They have done untold damage due to incompetence and toyed with emotions, particularly within the Woolmer household. Their investigation was a disgraceful shambles and they should be ashamed of themselves.

Courtney shook his head, looked at me and proceeded to vent his anger expressively.

This proud Jamaican was deeply hurt. Not just for his country but also for Bob’s family.

He threw down the Jamaican Gleaner in disgust and stormed off into the pristine Bahamian sea to cool off.

He needed too.