Is bickering the Caribbean characteristic?

So if even someone we share genes with is different from us in many ways, is it wrong to have the concept of national characteristics? Does one Trinidadian behave the same as another just because of where he or she comes from? The argument falls down right there. Where do Trinidadians come from? The answer is they come from all over the world. Many are descended from Africans, but from what part of Africa? It’s the same with those of Indian heritage. India is a big place. And with all the intermarriage – or at least interbreeding in these non-marrying times, most of us have genes we’ve never even thought about.

It is unreasonable, therefore, to expect Kamla Persad-Bissesar to have much in common with Nicki Minaj, or the distinguished author VS Naipaul to be like two peas in a pod with the equally distinguished Brian Lara, legendary batsman of this parish.

So if people from the same general geographical area can be very different, how can there be clearcut national traits? This is where “nature versus nurture” comes in.

Innate characteristics are far less likely to be common in two people than attitudes ingrained in us by circumstances.

What triggered this whole line of thought was the sacking of Phil Simmons as West Indies cricket head coach. There always seems to be some sort of trouble in the Windies ranks. It’s like the Dutch in the international football world: always lots of talented players, but they shoot themselves in the foot by falling out during tournaments.

I asked a Dutchman if that was a national characteristic and he replied, “No, it’s THE national characteristic.” So is there something in the Caribbean water that makes for disharmony among cricketers? If you were born in one of these two islands, you grew up with a certain mentality caused by being an islander. Well, guess what: so did I – on an island far, far away.

But does that make us insular? The word means “Ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas, or peoples outside one’s own experience” according to one dictionary.

Does tha t describe you? Probably not. Some like to remain where they began and perhaps be a big fish in a small pool, but others instinctively want to break out, to see what else there is in the world and try our skills and talents in other places, other cultures.

All the big international sporting events that have been going on around the world this summer demonstrate exactly that. No country has a monopoly on a particular sport anymore. Returning to Ms Pliskova, she comes from the Czech Republic, and it is remarkable how many eastern European girls are making their mark in her sport now. When Martina Navratilova ruled the female tennis world, she was highly unusual as regards her nationality. But Pliskova’s rivals include not just the mighty American Williams sisters but the less physically daunting but equally talented Maria Sharapova (Russia), Victoria Azarenka (Belarus), Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) and on down an increasingly unspellable road.

But do these girls have one key thing in common, other than having great tennis technique, physical fitness and determination? You could attribute those qualities to every woman in the world’s top 500.

We are all proud of our heritage and we all make claims of generic qualities. Most countries like to think of themselves as courageous and determined, for instance. Most consider themselves to be friendly, too, when in many cases that friendliness extends to one another rather than to outsiders.

And there we have it: we can’t describe ourselves because we only see what we want to see. The world may see us very differently.

When my wife and I first arrived in Tobago, an official in the Immigration department went to great lengths to make clear that when our visa expired we would have to leave. “Do you understand?” she kept saying. She made no attempt at a more pleasant, “Of course, if all goes well and we think you are an asset to the country, we may well extend your stay.” No. She was telling us not to get too comfortable, and that it might not be worth actually unpacking.

My wife, a Venezuelan, had a terrible time at London’s Heathrow airport once with another immigration officer who refused to believe she was only visiting and had no intention of disappearing into the undergrowth.

But that’s immigration officers and it’s an international phenome - non, not a local one.

West Indian cricket has a much more s p e c i f i c problem.