Dave Mohammed, the left arm (chinaman) spin bowler from Trinidad and Tobago (T &T) has shown the world what an honest sportsman he is during the Champions League match with NSW Blues. In taking a catch his foot had touched the boundary so he signaled not out to the umpire.

When most players fail to observe the spirit of the game, his gesture is refreshing, good for the game and an indictment of players who bend the rules and apply gamesmanship bordering on cheating. In the same game a NSW player fielded a ball with half of his body over the ropes and did not signal this to the umpire. This is Australia’s way in the past few decades that has been copied by cricketers including some if not most of Sri Lankan players.

Dave Mohammed’s other endearing habits are his infectious humour and his joyous celebrations on taking a wicket. With a smile on his face he was the embodiment of the T &T players and their multi-cultural, multi- ethnic, carnival country of only 1.4 million people.

From the first day until their defeat in the final, they played the calypso cricket of old: with fun, flair, exuberance, broad smiles on their faces and hands on their hearts. They played their natural born game successfully right through to the final which they lost only by not fully using their heads. They got there mainly because their hearts and minds were filled not with moneymaking but passionate devotion for their country and people.

Unlike the franchise teams from India and others that rely on mercenaries or Kolpak players, the Trinibagons were not playing for money, franchise owners, county or region but for their folks back home. This factor more than speed, strokes or brilliant fielding took them to the final and endeared them to the world and the local Indian crowds who took them to their hearts.

India’s strong support for T &T was more than "supporting the enemy of my enemy"- it is the ironic closing of the circle. Nearly two- thirds of the T &T team are East Indians whose ancestors were taken from India to the West Indies by the British. Their captain Darren Ganga’s parents had to hold back the tears on landing on India soil. Apart from the eye catching shopping and sight seeing trips they would have shed tears with their sons if they could have visited the old docks on the Hugli river in Kolkota from where their ancestors, cajoled or coerced, were transported to the West.

Darren Ganga was a revelation as an inspirational captain who was able to inspire and unified team around him. No other West Indian leader since Frank Worrell has been able to do so- even the great Garry Sobers. Some may argue that Clive Lloyd did this but he had batting and bowling battering rams to do this for him.

Ganga’s captaincy and a focused team management was the reason for T &T’s development into the peoples’ champion. He was astute and clear thinking, cajoling but motivating, leading and performing . He provided the stability when batting – rotating strike and ticking over the runs but accelerating and hitting boundaries when needed.

This was the reason he got his men- some just out of boyhood- to unify around him, to play out of their skins yet to enjoy themselves and their cricket. He said "Not many expected us to go so far in the competition, but if you look at the framework of our cricket one thing going for us is our national pride and patriotism."

Speaking about team work he said: "Ask any champion team they’ll say having the right chemistry - a togetherness and a team spirit - is essential for any sort of success. If you have a situation where everything is surrounding one or two individuals, you never get the sort of output that you want as a team, and that is one of the things we inculcate as a team. No one individual is bigger than the team.

In losing the trophy, like good soldiers they lived by the sword and perished by it. Instead of taking a single off the over’s last ball Pollard, the new master blaster tries to hit his fourth six and perished; so did three other colleagues. Ganga said "I don’t think we understood how to go about it, when you lose wickets early it puts players under pressure and I don’t think we handled that pressure well."

In the light of the current turmoil of West Indian cricket with players and their union refusing to play for their region and an inflexible board refusing to compromise, Ganga band of soca brothers have shown West Indies the way forward and Daren Ganga has certainly shown that he is an effective and charismatic leader of men.

The West Indies should put their trust in his kind of leadership, instead of a gold medallioned, refusnik captain whose only real interest is making more dollars for the least endeavor and whose patriotism seems to be to the highest paying franchise. Sir Frank Worrell would roll in his grave

The above has similar echoes in Sri Lankan cricket where the captain’s role seems to be less leading and setting high standards on the field and more on dictating events off the field; where it seems the ethos of playing for ones country is being replaced by how much money the players can make.

With spineless selection and cricket committees and a non-accountable board no wonder that the standards and performance have slipped. In a situation where the captain and senior players seem to be determining selection and where other officials and even players’ agents seem to hold sway, it is not surprising that Wayamba was sent home in disgrace.

It seems that Wayamba’s team was lacking the pride, team work and unity of the T&T team; the whole team lacked the cohesiveness and fighting spirit that a genuine club, region or state team possesses. And this is no surprise. Sri Lanka first class structure is made up of mediocre, under-resourced clubs with mainly mediocre and under performing players. If this is first class, what class is the artificial provincial tournament including Wayamba? Hardly Upper class but definitely Low class.

SL Cricket should think seriously about avoiding another embarrassment to the country and about how to

a) create a genuine first class cricket structure of around six to eight teams (call them what you will) bearing in mind that there are perhaps only around two dozen first class players in the country and b) restructure the coaching, match and selection systems (at all levels) along the Trinidadian lines which is based on district centres (as previously advocated in this column.)