(How To) Get Rich Quick (or Not)

Like virtually everybody else in the known cricketing universe (it seems) I was watching as things started to go wrong for England on Saturday evening. I couldn't however, manage to summon the energy or interest to watch until the end, as it was pretty obvious what the outcome was going to be. And, without trying to come across as too much of a purist, I was more interested in the Test match in Delhi, even if it subsided into a tame draw, than I was in anything which happened in Antigua.

I can't add anything original to what's been written by innumerable other people already, but I think that Rob at Cricket Forever and Patrick at Line and Length summed things up very well.

As Patrick says, it'll be great if what Stanford's team have achieved (and how they've done it) has a lasting influence on the game in the islands. While I can't agree with Stanford's pronouncement that the victory meant that West Indian cricket was back, it does at least look like a vague step in the right direction, something they've taken very few of in recent times.

And, as Rob says, England choked. Partly, I suspect because they wanted the money too much but at the same time weren't really sure what they were doing there. They were only too well aware that their week in the Windies constitituted a poor preparation for the imminent Indian tour, but they were only doing as they were told (and, as a by-product, hoping to get rich).

I think it's about time we moved on to something which really matters.