West Indies Cricket Fans Forum
West Indies tour to Pakistan
THE West Indies cricket team’s short but successful tour to Karachi for a three-match T20 series is being seen as Pakistan’s biggest step yet towards the restoration of international cricket in the country. Foreign players were unwilling to visit the country after the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore. However, a tour by a high-profile World XI to Lahore last September followed by the one-off T20 against Sri Lanka had rekindled hopes of a revival. And now, the staging of the thrilling back-to-back games in Karachi, including the Pakistan Super League final and the West Indies T20s, are being viewed as the most concrete measure yet towards the return of full-scale international cricket in the region. Indeed, it has been a celebratory week for Karachi which has been buzzing with excitement. For the first time in nearly a decade, the city, that is otherwise associated with violence, made headlines for hosting an international sports event after so many years. Braving high temperatures and the stringent security measures, Karachiites thronged to the National Stadium in their thousands to make the series a truly memorable one. Most of the credit for the incident-free event must go to the Pakistan Cricket Board, the law enforcers and the Sindh government for coordinating their efforts and adhering to a workable plan. In fact, in the larger scheme of things, where the focus is on peace and normality returning to the city, the lopsided results on the field are hardly worth a mention.
That said, the critics have been correct to highlight the depleted strength of the West Indies team sent to Pakistan sans its top players which has been rather disappointing for cricket fans here. Pakistan, since its debut in world cricket in 1952, has remained a front-ranking cricketing nation, and it is important that the PCB negotiate such tours on strong, equal terms befitting its status, especially in this case when the visiting players have been paid extraordinary remunerations for the assignment.
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Guyana Diaspora Forum
We have a large database of Guyanese worldwide. Most of our readers are in the USA, Canada, and the UK. Our Blog and Newsletter would not only carry articles and videos on Guyana, but also other articles on a wide range of subjects that may be of interest to our readers in over 200 countries, many of them non-Guyanese We hope that you like our selections.
It is estimated that over one million Guyanese, when counting their dependents, live outside of Guyana. This exceeds the population of Guyana, which is now about 750,000. Many left early in the 50’s and 60’s while others went with the next wave in the 70’s and 80’s. The latest wave left over the last 20 years. This outflow of Guyanese, therefore, covers some three generations. This outflow still continues today, where over 80 % of U.G. graduates now leave after graduating. We hope this changes, and soon.
Guyanese, like most others, try to keep their culture and pass it on to their children and grandchildren. The problem has been that many Guyanese have not looked back, or if they did it was only fleetingly. This means that the younger generations and those who left at an early age know very little about Guyana since many have not visited the country. Also, if they do get information about Guyana, it is usually negative and thus the cycle of non-interest is cultivated.
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