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Watching the West Indies play Ireland in a three-match one-day cricket series, which ended last weekend, was as psychologically painful as walking through a hospital ward and seeing doctors and nurse all armed with needles heading for sick targets.It was not surprising that the West Indies lost the series 1-2 - a historic situation that even surprised the Irish.Again, it was the regular cry - the West Indies batsmen (I will not call them batters, unless they are baking) did not apply themselves... blah, blah, blah. But what does that mean?From what I saw in the 50-over a side matches, and I must confess that I could not watch everything because it was that sickening, the batsmen need to start playing the longer version of the game more consistently, if they are to acquire the art of batting.So, playing T20 and 50-over cricket is just not cutting it for members of the one-day squad. Only two members of the West Indies squad who played against Ireland are consistent Test cricket players - Roston Chase and Jason Holder.Shamarh Brooks, Shai Hope, both batsmen, and bowler Alzarri Joseph, do so not as often.Chase did not have a good time allround, but Holder, Brooks, and Hope were not all bad.When you look at how full-of-talent Nick Pooran; Captain Kieron Pollard and young Justin Greaves got out though, you would realise that they are the ones who need some amount of discipline at the pitch. They have never played Test cricket, and so, you could see the mentality - no time to stick around, be disciplined, work themselves in, until they are able to bring on the fireworks.This is why I have always insisted that cricketers like Pollard, Pooran, Evin Lewis, and Shimron Hetmyer play more of the longer version of the game to get their headspaces right. There is no such thing as a T/20 cricketer, or a One-Day cricketer.I hope that head of West Indies selectors Desmond Haynes, and his colleague Ramnaresh Sarwan will push to change that silly philosophy when they meet to choose the squad to tour India later this year.Spare a thought for parents of dead toddlerShocking is too mild a word to describe the bizarre circumstances under which a toddler perished in St Elizabeth last week.And, of course, the people who are now suffering the most are the child's parents, and other close relatives, including a maternal grandmother who was close to the now deceased.All the evidence so far suggests that it was an error of monumental proportions for the little girl to be left alone in a car until her oxygen supply became compromised. But instead of trying to nail the parents to the cross, natural thinking should prevail.Information surrounding the incident, true or false, have dominated mainstream and social media. So, not being equipped with all the facts, it makes no sense trying to present another angle that would only lead to additional confusion.Hurricane Mia strikes againWhat could be the real reason for another handsome win by the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) over its main rival, the Democratic Labour Party, in that country's general election last Wednesday?There can only be one answer: Mia Mottley. Barbados, with a population of around 300,000 inhabitants, has a 30-seat House of Assembly in place.All 30 seats, which went to the BLP in a general election just under three and a half years ago, were not only retained by the party, but with increased numbers overall. That says a lot about the political organisation led by Mottley.Hurricane Mia's Barbados record of consecutive clean sweeps is not likely to be bettered for many years to come. After Wednesday's victory, she repeated that she would not lead her party into another general election.But if she continues to perform at the pace at which she has been going, she should be encouraged to give it further shots. I suspect that she, being a principled woman, one who keeps her word, might not want to do otherwise though.When you look around, leaders often talk about term limits and when it comes to implementation time, they hang on, all because power sweets them. Case in point - Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness, now in his third term as head of Government, and one who has always touted such limits, but has gone into silence mode on the subject in recent years.Since Mottley has become prime minister of Barbados, several positive things have happened - perhaps the most striking one being the switch from natives being active wimps of the Queen of England, to a republic. I have not been to Barbados in a few years, so I am not in a position to assess the structural, cultural and educational progress made under Mottley, and information swirling out there may not be authentic.However, if Barbadians believe that her party warranted another five years in office, then that tells you that something good is going on...it's not just prosperity by cheap talk, it's real prosperity. Argument done!The poor father, not used to dropping the child off at daycare, must be shattered by now. We should not add to that distress. I have a confession though: I am related by lineage to the toddler on her mother's side - the biological chain stretching through the St Elizabeth South Western communities of Little Park, Big Woods, Hounslow, and Mountainside.I never met the little one, but have seen photos of her...a sweet soul who we all wish would have gone on much longer to enjoy the finer things of life. My mind goes back to two almost similar cases of children being forgotten in motor cars. In the first one in nearby Manchester, a man I know had left his son on the back seat, locked the car, and went inside a building to collect some documents.It was when a television inside the building carried a news items on a missing child, that he remembered that the boy was still in the car. Like a high hurdler, he got off to what would have been declared a false start in athletics, rushed downstairs and attended to the child, who appeared to be quite fine.In the second incident, this time in St Elizabeth, a teacher, who normally drops her child off at daycare before she goes to school, had some work to finish up early in the morning at the institution, and decided to change her routine by heading to school first, and then visiting the daycare.It was around 30 minutes after she was going through her papers at school that a colleague walked in and expressed her pleasant surprise that she had been in school at that time, and inquired of the mother how she managed to drop the child off at daycare so early.Reality then set in. The mother, with a loud scream, dashed outside, unlocked the door, and there was the child in car seat at the back, crying for her mom.She, too, was okay. Maybe another 30 minutes would have been disastrous.Police personnel, perhaps more than other professionals, must have the most stressful job. And trying to survive in a lopsided environment with serious crimes, including murders, at exceedingly high levels; an Administration that has lost its way in making the people of this country safe; and a police force that is heading nowhere while being led by a man trained as a soldier, is not good.I know that God gets millions of prayer requests each day, but I hope that He will guide the grieving ones in this matter towards a path of stability. Some good people are involved here; and they are really suffering.What's behind the killing of that 9-year-old?The death of a nine-year-old autistic boy in bizarre circumstances recently in western Jamaica has given rise to deep speculation as to what really led to the final outcome - that of an innocent victim with a slashed throat, and stories from a few angles that do not add up.The police had not made an arrest up to when this article was being penned, but anyone with or without eyes should be able to see that something that smells worse than fish off the fridge for nine days is at work here.I know that there are heartless killers around, but what could the boy, Gabriel King, have done that ended in him meeting his demise in the manner in which we are told it occurred?The whole story is not in yet, and that is why we have investigators who should be encouraged to push all the way in untying all the knots that are connected to this messy affair.Unlike the matter that involves 19-year-old Rastafarian girl Nzinga King, the outcome of which, up to now, cannot be told to us either by the Director of Public Prosecutions, or Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM); the death of this boy appears to have more clues to it than we may be prepared to see.Is it coincidental that he, like Nzinga, another victim of injustice, is a King too? From my position on the mountain top, I would suggest that the matter of Gabriel is not one in which those handling the investigation will need to call in all the rocket scientists to assist them with their probe.