SPORTS
Newsday reporter
LET’S turn back the clock and look for clues.
As some would have us believe, West Indies cricket did not start in the 1980s. Its popularity was not even achieved by not losing a Test series between 1980 and 1995. A film was also produced which only highlighted the incredible pace of bowling of the eighties and nineties.
However, WI cricket made great strides from the time they were admitted in 1928 as a Test region, which combined the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean as a unit to engage their colonizers in Test matches. Before that recognition, the people of the West Indians had developed a love for the game and through the efforts of these pioneers, the early citizens of the Caribbean got better at the sport.
Excitement grew in the WI as time went on and the realization that they were good enough at the sport to compete with the English and Australians, the two original competitors who battled each other for glory. It was evident that the West Indian had a natural flair for the game, which excited the staunch and conservative character of the Englishman.
The first they invited to play in their home leagues was the late Sir Learie Constantine, who lit up the playing fields of Great Britain.
This was in 1929, the year after WI’s first official tour of England in 1928. A number of West Indians followed because of Learie’s success with his natural coordination and his exciting brilliance.
Officials of the famous Lancashire League lost no time in their search in our isles for other fascinating players to electrify their pitches; and those who had the talent to play the game, plus the need to improve their standard of living, seized the opportunity to move to the “mother country”, as it was called in those days, to play cricket professionally.
To build the popularity of their game, the Marylebone Cricket Club, better known as the MCC, encouraged this influx of young players who were naturally talented bowlers. In turn, visiting cricketers improved their game through this exposure and were paid as professionals. It was not first-class cricket, so their islands were not denied representation.
WI cricket took off quickly and only twenty-two years later (only 6 Test series were played during that time, given the era) they won their first Test series in England. Fifteen years later, in just their fifth Test series against Australia, they were victorious.
In 1977, an Australian business tycoon, Kerry Packer, who owned the television network Channel Nine, envious of not being able to secure the television rights for cricket on his television channel, took a decision to organize the tournament his international cricket in Australia. World Series Cricket.
He based his decision on the crowd appeal of Caribbean cricketers.
Their true professionalism began then.
Therefore, they continued a winning spree for the next 15 years. They won 40 Tests, losing only seven matches from 1980 to 1995, never losing a single series in 18. Packer then fell out with the WICBC and the Australian Cricket Board of Control and abandoned its cricket league . He claimed at the time that he never wanted to disrupt the status quo, but simply to prove a point for ACBC.
The similarities end there. However, the West Indian nature had not changed, therefore, the same characteristics are evident that attract today’s exclusive clubs to Caribbean cricketers; although WI is trying to climb out of the pit of failure and disappointment, the franchises are still behind them, because of their flair and natural ability to play the game.
However, as a team, they are inconsistent and consistently underperform.
The International Cricket Council, the authority on cricket around the world, will eventually have to set rules to protect the game of cricket in countries, rich or not.
When the IPL started, the BCCI banned Indian players from playing exclusive cricket outside India, paying them.
Meanwhile, other cricketers are invited to play in franchises to the detriment of their home countries that cannot compete financially.
Though there is a No Objection Protection Certificate that needs to be used to give approval, the WI authority refuses to deprive the cricketer of such financial gain. So, a serious problem.
Cricket West Indies must consider the effort and organization required to produce an individual cricketer of a high standard, plus the huge financial output required, without any return on their investment.
