02 May 2024

Antigua

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I don't like Antigua
I love it! and so will you!

Legendary West Indies star Sir Vivian Richards declares his love for his home island and looks forward to the cricket World Cup, to be held there. It 'll be some party.

1 Sunset at English Harbour 2 A pristine Antiguan beach 3 A colourful Antiguan village

AS I WATCH the new Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium taking shape at Antigua’s North Sound, I have to pinch myself.

When I was a boy growing up on that island, I rarely thought beyond the next game of cricket. I hoped one day to represent Antigua and Barbuda, and at the very most I dreamt of playing for the West Indies. But all that I have achieved in my career was beyond my wildest dreams.

And to have a cricket stadium named in my honour, built to stage matches in the key Super Eight round of the 2007 Cricket World Cup? No, I never thought this could ever happen.

When I played for the West Indies in the final of the first Cricket World Cup in 1975 (we beat Australia at Lord’s) the idea that the Caribbean might one day host the World Cup seemed a very remote possibility. But I did entertain the hope. By winning, we had shown that if you get your act together, anything is possible.

Until just a few years before that triumph, the captain of the West Indies team had to be white. Wes Hall, the former fast bowler who was our team manager, used to tell us how things had been, and how our success had brought about change.

By realising our potential as a team we had come a long way in a very short time.

A very vibrant people

Now that we have won the right to host this year’s Cricket World Cup, I hope we will put on the sort of show that will let people see what the Caribbean is really all about.

Each island is a separate nation with its own recipe for entertainment and this will be a highlight – we’re a very vibrant people.

The World Cup is going to be a non-stop party. Everyone knows about the samba in Rio – from next year, people will know more about reggae and calypso in the Caribbean.

Just in terms of music, every island will make its presence felt.

Outside, there is probably a feeling that one Caribbean island is much like another. This is an opportunity for all the islands, not just the big ones such as Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica, to show their own identity.

The Caribbean has all the spices, as it were. I want the World Cup to be a success overall but it’s a matter of personal pride that everything goes well here in Antigua.

There have already been practice matches on the pitch. The cricket will bring thousands of people who might otherwise never have come. If they are impressed they will tell friends at home, offering the potential for huge growth.

Tourism is a partnership

It’s wonderful that all this is happening because of cricket. We on Antigua and Barbuda know that tourism is the lifeblood of the islands. Since the demise of the sugar industry, it provides our major income. If we don’t have visitors we don’t survive so we have to do the very best job.

Some people level the criticism that tourism attracts wealthy people to expensive resorts employing relatively poor local people.

When I was a kid I was aware that some thought it maintained the idea: ‘You are the colonial master, I am your worker.’ But things have certainly changed here now.

Tourism is a partnership. The best hotels provide opportunities for people to work their way up the ladder - offering scholarships to study, for example.

I know people who have started out as a hotel porter and become assistant manager. Hotels have to make sure that staff are happy and involved. We all need to share in the success of tourism.

Being made up of separate island nations poses certain logistical problems when it comes to hosting the World Cup in the West Indies. Inevitably people wonder if things can ever run smoothly.

Anyone who has travelled from island to island in the Caribbean will know that passport queues and immigration forms often take up as much time as the short hop over on the plane.

But now the World Cup is making people look at how things can be improved, perhaps making travel within the West Indies more like travel within the EU. This would be of permanent benefit to Caribbean tourism.

When I was a small boy I never thought I would travel any further than a neighbouring island. The one place I longed to visit was Lord’s cricket ground in London. When I was a kid we were woken up in the early morning by the Test cricket commentary from England.

I loved the voices of John Arlott and Brian Johnston; there was something magical about them. So when I first came to Lord’s and walked through that little gate they were always talking about on to the cricket pitch – well, that was something very special.

Great memories

When I played my first game for the West Indies in Bangalore on our tour of India in 1974, I began a phase of my life in which flying to Sydney or London became as routine for me as travelling from Antigua to Barbados had once been.

Do I like travelling? I hate the business of getting to places, and I don’t like packing. But I love it when we get to the destination and the journey is over.

Touring in the Seventies and Eighties was more leisurely than it is now – in those days you were given time to visit places.

In Pakistan, for example, when we played in Peshawar I remember having a day off to go up to the border with Afghanistan, which had recently been invaded by the Soviet Union. I tell people when we see it all on the news now that I have been there.

Similarly, when we were in India we were taken to the lake city of Srinagar in Kashmir, where we went on a houseboat – that was magical. Because of the violence in Kashmir nobody is allowed to visit Srinagar any more, so I feel lucky to have seen such a special place.

I also have great memories of visiting the Taj Mahal and the Golden Temple in Amritsar. There’s serious history in those places.

I love Australia. There’s an air of confidence about Aussies which I admire. They’re great competitors, like me, and they’ll never take a step back in a fight. I always enjoyed our days off there.

We had one great day, I remember, wine tasting down the Barossa Valley. The place I would really like to go back to is Ayers Rock, or Uluru, to give it its Aboriginal name.

Some party

I visited it for a Laureus World Sports Award given to the runner Cathy Freeman, who is a legend of the Aboriginal race. It was very moving to see her in that environment, to see just how much she was adored.

For Cathy Freeman, as for so many people, including me, sport was a ticket to a new life. Success seems to go to those who are most hungry for it.

In the Caribbean, the place I have a particular fondness for is Grenada, which despite the problems it has suffered over the years – political upheavals and hurricanes – always bounces back. It has a great atmosphere and some fine beaches.

The way Antigua is growing now, this is the place for me. I’m proud of everybody who has made it possible for us to stage the World Cup, especially the cricketers who have given so much to the West Indies over the years.

They have all been such wonderful sporting ambassadors for these islands.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could win the World Cup again, in our own back yard? We’ve had a fantastic 20/20 competition in the Caribbean this summer, which has shown that we have so much upand- coming young talent in the islands.

Don’t write the West Indies off yet. People have done that before and have lived to regret it.

Come to the Cricket World Cup next year, and come to Antigua and Barbuda. It will be some party, man.

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