It’s not over…till the last ball’s bowled

You, Dear Readers, would know your Eyewitness is a cricket tragic. So, it couldn’t have been easy to keep focus on this critical aspect of his life nowadays, could it? What with the COVID pandemic driving away all international games from our shores for the last two years, the “boys” in Maroon struggling to field a team that’s not even a shadow of their glory years, and WI seemingly locked in a long-term transition, many would be throwing up their hands to the sky!!
But out of the Stygian darkness came news that the CPL season is nigh upon us and we may be getting the semis and finals at Providence!! Lord, have mercy!!  Talk about being thrown a lifeline!! Now this is only a POSSIBILITY right now ‘cause the Government and the CPL brain trust have to straighten out those pesky contract details. But like he just said, he’s a true believer!! When the possibility of cricket returning with the Guyana Amazon Warriors is on the table, your Eyewitness has absolute confidence that our Government will come through! After all, if those small islands can snag those prime games when they’re spiralling out of control on the economic front, what about us, with our oil money finally coming down the pike!?
Point of the matter, Dear Readers, Warriors cricket is just what the doctor ordered for our people! Not just because of the COVID lockdown that had everyone else in the Caribbean under wraps, but because of the tensions generated by the PNC during the five months when they tried to rig our elections. That wasn’t just nasty when our dirty linen (including stained bedsheets!)  were hung in public – especially before our Caricom brothers and sisters – but jeez, it caused such severe strains on our famous Guyanese bonhomie.
So, we desperately need something to remind us that beneath all the sturm and drang (meaning “stink and dutty mess”!) of politics, we really ARE one people with the same gusto for life. And what brings that out better than Warriors cricket at Providence Stadium?? Have you seen pictures of us Guyanese cheering on our “boys”?? Warriors Cricket proves that while our bonds might sometimes be strained by those politicians around election time, they’re never snapped.
So, let’s put some pressure on the powers-that-be to ensure that one of those “small islands” don’t steal our thunder once again. If we’re now on the radar of the big powers because of our oil, we must ensure we’re on the radar of the cricketing world with our Warriors Cricket played at home!!
Let this be the year we go ALL THE WAY!! Go Warriors at Providence!!

…till Granger goes
As your Eyewitness has been going on ad nauseum, (that is, until you want to scream, “Enough, yet!!!”) we need a fit and proper Opposition. Let’s face it…power corrupts and you know what they say about “absolute power”. And if you don’t, just ask anyone who lived through the “Burnham days”! You gotta keep those in power on their toes. After all, wasn’t it some big political guru who said that if men were angels, we wouldn’t need Governments?? And even then, look what one angel named Lucifer tried to do!!
So, your Eyewitness wants to know when will the PNC develop the cojones to get to the root of the demeaning impasse. Which is that fella who earned the sobriquet “Sanctimonious Gangster” from his then peers in the Caribbean. If they hadn’t been so kind, they would’ve said “Mealy-mouthed Gangster”!! Unlike the Mafia who preferred “Let’s go to the mattresses”, Our gangster preferred “Let’s go to the Courts”.
That’s where he should be taken!!

…till it’s over
And that’s what the Ukrainians must be saying. Everyone and their armchair generals insisted that Putin would’ve swept through the Ukraine like a knife through butter.
What say they now? It ain’t over till the fat lady sings!!