THE EDITOR: "No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main” is attributed to English poet and clergyman John Donne (1572-1631). It basically means that human beings necessarily depend on each another. The recent “sudden” retirement of Nicholas Pooran from international cricket at the tender age of 29 seems to have shocked many, especially with the World T20 Cup in less than a year. I welcomed the news as I have always felt that stars do not often make champions. In the just concluded Champions League, Paris Saint Germain (PSG) won the cup after years of trying with stars like Ibrahimovic, Neymar, Messi, Mbappe, Ronaldinho and Beckham, to name a few. I believe “stars” are generally not great team players and tend to disrupt team spirit, though not deliberately. Oftentimes when they waltz into the team they tend to upset the apple cart – someone who has been giving 100 per cent all the time would have to be dropped. And more often than not the team still loses. Pooran is the West Indies T20 record holder for runs and appearances, having played 106 T20s for 2,275 runs at an average of 26.14, with a strike rate of 136.39. However, he fared better in his 61 ODIs with an average of 3REAL9.66. In franchise cricket, he has played 398 T20s at an average of 29.47 and a strike rate of 150.53. Cricket fans will know that he never represented in Test cricket. He was suspended briefly in late 2019 after admitting to ball tampering against Afghanistan but overcame this and rose to captain the WI T20 team in the World Cup in Australia, where we were eliminated in the first round. On resignation, he is quoted on Instagram as saying: “Wearing that maroon, standing for the anthem and giving everything I had each time I stepped on the field…it’s hard to put into words what that truly means to me.” Having never won a major trophy like Gayle, Pollard and Bravo, one might surmise that elusive World T20 trophy that is just around the corner and up for grabs may not be of great significance to Pooran. The game of cricket has changed and I have learnt to accept the vagaries of the T20 format. Many commentators were guarded with their utterances on learning of Pooran's shocking resignation, stopping short from saying he ought to have given back more to West Indies. Earlier in his career he was involved in a car accident and sustained broken limbs that kept him away from cricket for over a year. During this period he was supported by the TT Cricket Board. Almost a year ago when Pooran had played 100 T20 internationals for the WI, he said that he wanted to play 100 more and now has suddenly declared his retirement. Tony Gray echoed half of my sentiments when he said, "He has not played a lot for the WI in comparison to what we expect from international operators, but he has a young family to think about and it's sad to see him go, but we have to respect his decision.” West Indies coach Darren Sammy said more players will follow and his instincts told him that something like this would happen. Sammy revealed that “Nicholas had sent me a text message and so I did have a conversation with his agent as well…when we first spoke about the UK tour and the conversation I had with him, I did ask him, 'Are you unavailable for the UK tour only or indefinite?' And from that response I just knew I had to start preparing for the worst case.” Sammy said that while he was not surprised, “it’s up to each individual to understand what the brand and the crest means...it’s up to each player to go out and put in that type of passion out there. I can only speak about it but I can’t force anybody to do it, just like I can’t tell anybody to call time on their career.” In For Whom the Bell Tolls, the writer compared people to pieces of a continent, explaining when one person is lost, the whole world is affected. Pooran has left our islands and will continue to ply his trade in the continents. At the time of writing Pooran was due to be captaining MI New York (Mumbai Indians) in the Major League Cricket T20 competition in North America. Meanwhile West Indies would be returning to Ireland for a three-match T20 series. Life goes on. TERRENCE KALLOO