It's no secret that West Indies cricket is in a mess. From top to bottom there are over-paid yet under-performing elements. The WI Cricket Board has not been able to guide the team from out of the lows of the post-Viv Richards era, and has continued to be embroiled in one petty squabble after the other. If it’s not against players it's among themselves, and the rudderless corpse has done more damage than good in the last few years.

On the player side, despite obvious talent, we continue to see lacklustre batting, indifferent fielding and tepid bowling plague the once-proud men in maroon.
One hundred is a benchmark in this sport. For batsmen, it’s that magical figure that shows the kind of class, concentration and character that defines the very best. For the bowlers, measured in miles per hour, 100 is what makes a fast bowler a legend to be feared (if they can clock it) or be sent into the pavilions (if they can't mash the gas).

The fact that the best-ranked WI bowlers average around 90mph and that the second-ranked Test bowler is Darren Sammy—an all-rounder by trade—says that something is missing from the front line attack. Anyway, the T&T team in contrast, has their best year for some time, and continues to make a quiet claim for breaking away from the WI fold and standing on our own. I'm only in favour of that if just to show the WICB how it should be done.

In real cricket, India, who defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets, became the first host-nation to win the cricket World Cup. In the IPL, Chennai Super Kings, with T&T's Dwayne Bravo, beat Royal Challengers Bangalore, with Jamaican Chris Gayle by 58 runs in the final to win for the second consecutive year. My resolution for 2012 is to watch West Indies women play: they're better looking and they actually win.