Instead of sulking about the past when the West Indies were the kings of Calypso cricket, perhaps it’s time to realize that the golden days were the exception rather than the rule.
The Windies are forever burdened by high expectations due to a remarkable era in which they were the undisputed champions on the international cricket stage.
But times change. Times have changed.
And when you’re talking about a geographical grouping of distinct Caribbean nations playing together under one flag, with a collective population of around 6.5 million, it’s no wonder they haven’t been able to regularly compete with the power of nations more cricket greats.
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In the early days they struggled, after World War II they achieved respectability, they dominated the global landscape for several decades and for the last 30 years they have struggled.
West Indies celebrate a goal against the Prime Minister’s XI. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
The current team has reverted more to mediocrity than disappointed the legends of the past.
Like Sir Donald Bradman’s Test average of 99.94, the Windies’ success from the mid-1970s over a 20-year period is the exception to the rule, not what should be expected from an entity trying to bring together the politics and agendas of 15 independents. nations.
The Windies – divided into six territories representing Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, and the Leeward and Windward Islands groups – have modest resources when compared to the might of India, Australia, England and many of cricket’s full member nations. .
Getting everyone together to achieve success is extremely difficult, according to former Windies player Brendan Nash, who played 21 Tests from 2008-11 after starting his first-class career in Queensland.
“I came from a little different angle than I came into that environment so quickly, so it added another level of complexity when you’re trying to get all those nations playing under one blanket,” Nash said. howls.
“I wouldn’t say there was a divide, but not an understanding of how to get the best out of some players from some of the smaller islands. It was a lot of times that it felt individual, like they were doing their own thing because that’s all they knew.
Brendan Nash during the third Test match between Australia and the West Indies in Perth in 2009. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
“I saw that as one of the biggest challenges — how do you bring everyone together and get them on the same page, trying to have a clear purpose for how we do things, a mantra.”
Nash said comparisons to last year’s champion teams were brought up a lot during his time and he would have liked to have had more legends from the past lend their insights.
He added that the Windies suffered from an ongoing resource problem from a lack of infrastructure funding to get kids playing cricket and strong pathways to the top.
“You have to remember it’s a different environment when you’re talking about Third World countries and what might be offered to young players in Australia is not available to them.
“They are from a much poorer background and I would see players trying out for the national team who didn’t have their jersey because they didn’t have the money,” he said. “They traveled on a bus for two and a half hours to get to the trial games, it was an eye-opening experience.”
And then there is the problem of T20 leagues taking players away from the first-class route to Test cricket with lucrative contracts.
“I really hope the Windies get back to some sort of staying power in the Test arena,” Nash said. “I think West Indies cricket fans need a good performance (against Australia).
“They’ve got guys now who are in the prime of their careers and they’ll certainly be challenged in Australia, but you never know with the West Indies. I’ll be rooting for them.”
Eras of varying success
As they approach the 100th anniversary of their first Test later this decade, West Indies cricket can be divided into four distinct eras from their humble origins in the 19th century to the present.
Before World War II: The first team was selected in 1886 to tour the USA and Canada, but was an all-white team filled with wealthy British amateurs. They played their first official Tests in England in 1928 and before the war, won four of their 22 matches, drawing on six occasions.
After World War II: with Frank Worrell finally becoming the first full-time black captain in 1960 (coincidentally starting his tenure with the famously tied Brisbane Test), the Windies punched well above their weight.
Worrell’s record of nine wins and just three defeats in 15 Tests paved the way for Sir Garfield Sobers, the greatest all-rounder in cricket history, in an era where Windies gained worldwide respect for skill, athleticism and their sports.
In the three decades leading up to the history-defining 1975-76 tour of Australia, they won 45, lost 36 and drew 54, along with the historic draw, for a success rate of 33%.
West Indies lift the 1979 Cricket World Cup trophy. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)
1976-95: After being hammered from pole to pole by the lightning strikes of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson in a 5-1 series win, captain Clive Lloyd decided to adopt Australia’s scare tactics.
Lloyd, who had suffered a broken jaw against Thomson, relied on an armada of fast bowlers including Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall to fight fire with fire.
Along with Lloyd, they also had a golden streak of batting led by one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the century in Sir Viv Richards, along with openers Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge, and shortly after, Richie Richardson .
Richards succeeded Lloyd as captain in the mid-1980s and then Richardson in ’91 there was no stopping their dominance. During this two-decade span their only loss in the series was a controversial 1-0 defeat in New Zealand amid allegations of one-sided refereeing.
They went 74-24-57 in their 155 Tests with a success rate of 47.7%, largely under the guidance of Lloyd (61), Richards (50) and Richardson (23), collecting the 1975 and ’79 World Cup trophies ODIs on the way.
1995-present: Which brings us to the post-glory days era. Just 57 wins from 246 Tests at a rate of 23.17% since Steve Waugh’s 200 to clinch Australia’s series win in Jamaica signaled the end of the Windies’ reign in 1995.
In the decade before Brian Lara’s retirement at the 2007 World Cup, as the legends of the late 1990s faded into retirement – Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Carl Hooper – the decline was profound. They won 21% of their matches under Lara, Hooper, Walsh, Jimmy Adams and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
(Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)
Then the likes of Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo brought hope but were lured away from Tests by the fortunes of the T20 leagues and from 2007-15 they won just 15 out of 72 Tests to continue their downward slide.
But in the last seven years, the Windies saw much fanfare, began to regain respectability, first under Jason Holder and more recently with Kraigg Braithwaite as captain.
They have won 17 out of 57 Tests with an improved success rate of 29.82% and they enter the task with two matches in Australia having beaten England 1-0 in three matches and Bangladesh 2-0 in a sweep in the Caribbean earlier this year. the year.
Braithwaite told reporters in Perth on Tuesday that his side were determined to show they could mix it with Test cricket’s best over the next fortnight.
“Obviously we’ve been great in the past,” Brathwaite said.
“We still use that as motivation. We still aim to achieve this, but it is a process.
“We have started that process, in the years to come, if we still have younger guys in the group who still prioritize red-ball cricket.
“Once we do that and stick together as a group, I think we can improve and get to those great levels.”
