There are different perspectives but similar conclusions coming from Scottish and New Zealand bloggers on not only the CWC 2007, but the way forward for not only sports and cricket in the Caribbean but Barbadian challenges too – in a nutshell? More Bajan roadsigns, fix the roads here and stop giving ppl time off to play cricket and develop that and other sports as a full time occupation, the same way they do in the USA and Britain!

Alastair Scott from ye olde Glasgow says the roads are atrocious, winks at cops being frisked and sees the future of local cricket not so shiny –

• BARBADOS names roundabouts after its famous cricketers. The trouble is, there just aren’t enough of them – roundabouts, that is.
• The best way to tour the island is to hire a Mini-Moke, although, alas, these are getting scarcer as spares from Australia begin to dwindle. The roads vary from good to shocking, with the latter more common – even at slow speeds, you’ll spend much of the time airborne. And lost. Signs are absent, obscure or faithless…. {Ed’s Note: He obviously did not see the BHTA signs from Worthing to West Coast, he must be referring to rural Barbados}
  

• The great day arrives: Scotland vs Sri Lanka. Minnow vs marlin. Security is intense. Even the police are searched. It is all magnificently Bajan (only the uninitiated use Barbadian). Scotland loses but just being there is an achievement for our team. Yet where is the crowd? The fever? The ground is almost empty. Not a rattle or a horn, none of the fabled fanfare. I am bamboozled.
• Some say publicity for the Cricket World Cup has deterred the usual influx of tourists. Others that English fans have spent their money on the Ashes in Australia, and that the Scots are unaware they even have a national cricket team. All this might account for the half-empty hotels, but why the lack of Bajan fervour? Then I meet Andrew, the only person to stop me and beg for money. “D’you play cricket?” I ask.

‘Ah used to. Ah dun play no more cos West Indies so bad. Now ah play basketball.’

This regional apathy can be found in Monique Devereux‘ own blog for New Zealand –

• ….the younger generation, of which many are not interested in the World Cup beyond the murder headlines….

• The West Indies may have had a strong hold on cricket in the 80s, and there is no doubt Brian Lara is a legend, but there seems to be a change in the younger generation’s sporting preferences.

• Basketball is also increasingly popular. In St Lucia hoops adorn walls all over the place.
• But the most telling sign for me was the young taxi driver in Barbados who had to ring his brother to get directions to the cricket ground we wanted to go to. When his brother couldn’t help the driver ended up stopping at a shop, yet still having to wave down a passing motorcyclist for directions.

There it is, but rather than let this entry finish so bleakly, let’s add a bit of apocryphal humor… Here are some things you wouldn’t be likely to hear this CWC 2007 –

AND — ?

The least likely thing you’ll hear at CWC 2007??