It has been a real tragic week in the topsy turvy cricket world that is West Indies cricket. On Sunday (4th March) there was the tragic news that batsman Runako Morton had been killed in a road crash, in a reminder to us all just how fragile life can be.
We keep on hearing about disasters in sport, and West Indies cricket has seen its fair share of those over the top and clearly wrong and misguided headlines written about it in the recent past.
Things need to be put into perspective here, what happened on Sunday is a real tragedy for West Indies cricket, not a dispute about central contracts or a batting collapse.
To us outsiders, there appears to be a constant bickering that generally seems to sum up West Indies cricket these days, but incidents like this put that all into perspective and show just how futile peoples actions can be at times.
While this dreadful news has come to the media’s attention, it doesn’t seem to have made major headlines outside of West Indies which is disappointing given he was an international cricketer up until a couple of years back.
Benny, over at Like a Tracer Bullet Blog is one of the few to take the time to pay tribute and he has written a great piece about this untimely death which I would highly recommend taking the time to read.
Runako Morton will probably be remembered like so many West Indian cricketers of his generation, as one who seemed to have plenty of ability, but failed to completely live up to it. He clearly didn’t set the world on fire with his cricket, but he was a decent player, of that there can be no doubt.
After all, he has ODI hundreds and Test 50’s – and they don’t get given to you.
RIP Runako Morton
tracerbullet007
Thanks for the shout out, Dean…Personally, I’m not surprised by the muted response….If he was a star cricketer or had hailed from the subcontinent, more people would be talking about it….thats how it is now..
Brian Carpenter
I agree with you about this, Dean. As you may have seen, I linked Morton’s death with the sixtieth birthday of Viv Richards.
I felt Morton deserved as much recognition as Richards this particular week, anyway.
Cricket Betting Blog
I almost did the same Brian, in the end I decided to just write about Morton. You are right with your comment on here and in your own blog post http://differentshadesofgreen.blogspot.com/2012/03/defining-era.html, Morton deserved far more recognition.