Beyond the maroon cap: Tony Cozier

Tony Cozier may have passed away on 11th of May, but as far as many are concerned, the 2nd of May carries a massive significance. It was the last article written by Cozier. Moreover, it was an article, published on Cricinfo talking about the legends of West Indies cricket. The irony could not be any clearer than it is.

“The CARICOM heads of government meeting in Georgetown in July is as good a place to start for Sobers, Richards, and the others to emphasize their concern for the future of West Indies cricket.”

These were the last words written by Cozier. They aren’t the greatest of words in the world. Neither are they complicated and arduous words someone cannot understand. A simply constructed sentence and many like those enumerate something beyond the commentary. He was a simple man. He wasn’t the type who partied late in the evenings after a match. Neither was he the type who only came in for T20 matches.

If there was anyone who knew Tony Cozier at all, it was none other than former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding. The latter’s genuine ‘African rhythmic bowling’ was first noticed by Cozier and the two have come a long way since then. In an interview, Holding described Cozier as: “Someone who loved the game. Someone who worshiped West Indies cricket and someone who was not afraid to speak his mind whether he thought that people might not like it. He was always someone who spoke, in his mind, what the truth was and assessed the game and assessed conditions and everything surrounding the game and wrote and spoke about it fearlessly.”

Tony Cozier, as well documented really, has quite effectively been the voice of the West Indies since the start of their golden era. The build up to the golden era included the likes of Rohan Kanhai, Sir Gary Sobers, and Sir Wes Hall. The era would go on for the next fifteen odd years to come as the likes of Clive Lloyd, Michael Holding, and the darling Vivian Richards graced the world with their very presence. Behind all these stars of West Indies cricket was Tony Cozier.

Many cricket journalists get into the business of sports journalism for the fame. However, Tony Cozier did not. He didn’t need the limelight. Although his major job was to put the limelight on those playing right in front of him in the field. He was an equivalent of Richie Benaud for West Indies cricket and he was thrust with the burden of telling their story. In somewhat of a strange similarity, Cozier was like Casey Kaesam. Only the latter was the voice of Hollywood and incredibly famous.

As a cricket writer myself, I take massive pride in being born into a generation that saw utterly competitive cricket being played. Of course, the Indians weren’t always the team that won, yet I enjoyed every bit of my cricket crazy childhood. Thereby, I came across Tony Cozier for the first time as a cricket-crazy eight-year-old. My first impression of the man was one of puzzlement.

At the time, television advertising was in its infancy. The tag line whenever Cozier’s name came up read: Mr. West Indies cricket. I thought to myself, “Gosh, how is he Mr. West Indies!” It was only after reading about him online that I realized the importance of his contribution to the sport. While the words remained same, the tone was a complete turnaround.

The content on Tony Cozier was something much more than I imagined. He had been commentating ever since my parents wore diapers. He had written his first cricket article as a teenager and his book came out in 1978 when he was 20-something years old. The respect was rather instant and perhaps the reason I got into sports journalism myself.

The more I began to listen to him down the years, the more I grew to love and respect him. Not just as a commentator, but as an individual. A man and a thinker of the ‘Gentleman’s game’. His appearance at first was nothing great by any means. He was a short and stout man. A ‘beer belly’ was evident, although I never knew whether it was due to beer or not. He was a white man in a black country, identifying himself rather strongly with the locals despite being a ‘bajan’. He had rose-colored cheeks as well as a pair of glasses and white hair. In a nutshell, he resembled an old and an aging war veteran from yesteryear.

While his appearance did little to explain his cricketing brain, it wasn’t until he said something in a match that I realized his cricketing brains. He was a sparkling cocktail of Steven Lynch and Richie Benaud. He didn’t need an IPAD or a computer to crunch numbers from the past. He knew it all and described it with a humor that people generally haven’t heard before. He wasn’t a light-hearted individual like David Lloyd, yet he wasn’t as serious as those commentators from the 70’s and 80’s.

Vaniesa Baksh, a journalist who has had the opportunity to meet him describes the man almost perfectly.

“When he took the microphone, he brought a West Indian voice to cricket. He could weave history, stats, jokes, and island titbits into ball-by-ball commentary seamlessly, so that for the first time, a Caribbean perspective made it to the airwaves.”

However, as is the case with many of the talented people in the world, most will remember Cozier for the words he wrote on paper as opposed to that calm and fruity voice many heard either on the radio or on television commentary. Once more, in somewhat of a double irony, his father gifted him a copy of the 1963 edition of the Wisden magazine for his eighth birthday. Those words seemed etched in his memory, allowing him to express his views as a cricket analyst over the years.

In the Caribbean, cricket is more than just a sport. It was one of the biggest weapons to end colonial rule in the West Indies Islands. It was the one thing that gave people hope, a need for existence. For Cozier, it was his drug. It was his alpha and omega. It was him.

The last few years of his career was spent trying to save West Indies cricket. It wasn’t something he was used to doing, given the rich history of the nation. As well documented, he had spent the better part of almost 50 years of his life writing about West Indies cricket.

I’d like to think that he fought for the survival of West Indies cricket till his dying breath. Of course, he was a significant part of it and of course he could go on an expedition to save it. Evidence of that can be found in the articles he wrote. Illness and bad health did little to stop him from expressing his views. On a concluding note, in a bid to get deeper into the personality of Cozier, we must once again turn to Michael Holding, the man who knew him better than anyone.

“I’ve had a lot of meals with Tony Cozier, and one thing I can tell you about him is that he loves ice cream. Tony would never finish a meal without a little bit of ice cream. So I hope that wherever he’s gone to now, heaven or wherever else his spirit is, there’s ice cream there because that will keep him going.”

While all the stories become successful in putting a sinister smile on my face, my only regret is that I wasn’t born in the time where he glorified the heroes of West Indies cricket.