More crickets than cricket

May Day! May Day!

New month - also the cricket is now well and truly over. Our white elephant in the green fields of Trelawny can now kick back and watch the grass grow. Well, really, our white elephant has been doing just that since the last guest left the grand opening ceremony more than six weeks ago.

Sabina Pork put on a good show. I went to two matches - the first one, between the WI and Pakistan and then the St. Patrick's Day massacre. That one was fun, watching from the 'party stand' and watching Ireland do the impossible. The first one was fun too - when it seemed that the WI really had a chance.

But fun or not, I think I could have had more fun for Ja$9 billion than that. And the sad fact is that Jamaica may never recoup anything like that $9 billion, no matter what the spinners say. Hardly anyone came for a start. Not even Jamaicans (except for that first game). No ships were needed to house the thousands of tourists.

And the white elephant certainly wasn't needed - and I'm certain that there is no practical plan in place to try to recoup its cost. It makes the Forum Hotel look like a God send. Greenback Fields is destined to see more crickets than cricket.

Hopefully, the public will believe their eyes and not their ears when election time comes. It may then finally vote against a government that thought it better to play with 9 billion desperately needed dollars than to actually try to improve our schools, hospitals, police and economy.

The party's over - it never really began. Now that the hoopla is gone, empty promises, chirping crickets and the occasional passing of tumbleweed have taken over.