By Duggie Joseph
Caribbean Net News St Vincent Correspondent
Email: duggie@caribbeannetnews.com
KINSTOWN, St Vincent: St Vincent and the Grenadines' Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, has lent his voice in criticizing the poor performance of the West Indies cricket team in the ICC World Cup competition now taking place in the Caribbean.
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Prime Minister,
Dr Ralph Gonsalves.
Photo: Kenton Chance |
While addressing members of the media in St Vincent, Dr Gonsalves said the team's performance "has amounted to a betrayal of the Caribbean people, who have done so much to make this World Cup possible."
"I like speaking on these terms and I know when I speak this way, I will be criticized as a politician for putting in my mouth in the business of cricket", Dr Gonsalves said.
"But I am speaking here not so much as Prime Minister, certainly not as Chairman of CARICOM, I am speaking as Ralph Gonsalves, a Caricom citizen and a cricket follower and lover." The Prime Minister said if any government in the world were moving around as non-performing pre Madonna's "there would be a hue and a cry in the particular jurisdiction where they operate for their removal. I am not asking for that in relation to the cricketers, because I do not want to put my mouth in matters of selection and so forth. I am only making the point that the governments of this region and the people have spent in excess of US$750 million to put on this World Cup," Dr Gonsalves said.
"The media have mobilized themselves and the people of the region. The police and defense services have done an excellent job. The immigration authorities, the health personnel, the civil society and ordinary citizens who have volunteered to be volunteers, and have been of high quality throughout the region."
He said all these were done to make the ICC Cricket World Cup a first class affair, the best ever, "and we are playing at home and the cricketers seem to be performing with no sense of commitment or even dignity,"
"That is why I used the word that the people of the region feel betrayed and there must be a corrective by these players," Dr Gonsalves said. He also said he was not leveling his criticisms at any individual player, the team's coach or management, stating that the players have not played to their capacity, which has left the people of the Caribbean very disappointed. "I am pleading with those involved to lift their game.”
“We have had difficulties of one kind or the other in the World Cup but to me, this one is the one, which has been the most demeaning of all, amounting to what I consider to be a betrayal.” He said.
"I think that the players are professional persons of quality and I am sure that they are playing for more than money. But if they are playing for more than money they must show us on the field that that is what is happening. I am not making any statement to them in any individual way, save and expect to say this, and frankly speaking, we deserve better from our team we expected much more," Dr Gonsalves said. | 
