Tony Cozier : A Tribute

It's been a long while since I wrote anything of note about the game I love the most. Yes Cricket is what I am talking about and going to talk about in the following write-up. I had couple of topics to start with: the resurgence of English Limited Overs Cricket and the status of Ahmadi Muslims in first class and international cricket of Pakistan; but I had to abandon them for times to come because something very tragic took place today in the morning and being a passionate follower of the game, the incident swept the floor beneath me feet. Tony Cozier, the voice of West Indian Cricket and international cricket at large for last 58 years, left us for a better place in the morning. Many legends instantly started paying their condolences to this iconic, colossus figure of World Cricket but hardly any of them were finding the right words to compensate for the loss left by his passing. Michael Holding came probably the nearest in assessing his contribution to West Indian Cricket as he equated him to Sir Garry Sobers for his influence and graceful behavior. It was certainly a dramatic affair for a white young man with a degree in sports journalism from Ottawa, Canada to find a footing in his native Barbados which was inhabiting predominantly black population. Heck, the entire Caribbean was housing black population with only some smattering of white population but Tony made them groove to his voice and persona. In 1958, when he was only 18, he started his career as a Cricket Journalist in Barbados. When Michael Holding made his first class debut for Barbados as an 18 year old pacey prodigy, his first class captain Maurice Fraser took him to a party where all the eminent West Indian Cricket personalities were present but Maurice introduced him to Cozier only, at the time only 29 years old, saying if he was gonna write great about him, his chances of playing for Windies would increase manifold, such was his authority and charisma. But did Tony make any ill-use of that authority? Never, everyone would answer that in Caribbean. He started his career witnessing the great Learie Constantine wielding his bat like a sword and ended, though unwillingly, vouching for the inclusion of Alzarri Joseph and Chemar Holder, the pace-battery of Windies U-19 team that recently won them the U-19 world cup in the March of this year. He watched the West Indian team developing in front of his eyes in 1960s and 70s, triumphing magnificently in 80s and 90s and then falling from grace, unceremoniously in 2000s and 2010s. It was only befitting that his death preceded the glorious and joyous events of Windies' U-19 team world cup triumph, Windies women and men team triumph in 20-year World Cup that signaled at yet another resurgence of West Indies Cricket. He remained prolific till his last days and wrote his last article commentating on the status of WICB administration and its apparent lack of cohesiveness with its players. Tony's heart bled for Windies cricket and as stoic as he always sounded both in print or radio/TV, one could guess his lamentation and frustration with present Windies team and its administrative board.

Tony Cozier was known in Cricketing Circles for his encyclopedic knowledge. He remembered every stats of the matches he watched and covered as a broadcaster/commentator/journalist and Wisden commented in 2006 that Tony must have watched over 266 test matches by that point. He traveled the world, grooming cricketers, journalists and commentators and still remained scrupulous. I have been fortunate to have followed his writings for close to seven years now and one thing I always noticed with them. It was his attention to details. He noticed and covered every minute details of a match, a player or a match situation. I must say that I assumed his writings as 'unglamorous', devoid of all the constituents that make the language of some writers 'flowery'. No shenanigans, no hyperbole, it was all about sub-text. What's written between the lines was all that mattered. He never made a decisive statement, a rare gift that even rarer people speak of and could manage. Although he praised quite a many sportsperson, he never glorified them and rarer still, he never criticized them, his apparent and subdued bitterness towards WICB ill-treatment of its star players might be one exception. He was a Cricket Academician of highest order and perhaps only Christopher Martin-Jenkins and John Arlott of BBC could speak of matching his vast pool of Cricketing knowledge. Sadly enough, all three of them are in heaven now and so are Brian Johnston, Richie Benaud and that young-at-heart, tortured Cricketing prodigy of New Zealand, Martin Crowe. And as Ayaz Memon rightly pointed out in his tweet, in the companies of these gentlemen, even Gods there in heaven could turn into Cricket-loonies. West Indies cricket lost its doyen today and arguably its most passionate supporter and thus keeping in sight his magnanimous character and astute presence, this Indian fan of his with a shattered heart and moist eyes would offer him a three-fingers royal salute. God certainly isn't making the likes of him anymore.....#DownToTheBoundaryFor4........#TonyCozier.......WindiesCricket