Can West Indies Cricket Ever Regain Its Lost Glory?

Dec 31, 2018 at 1:56 PM

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Can West Indies Cricket Ever Regain Its Lost Glory?

The West Indies were once a dominant team in world cricket, but for a long time now cricket fans and experts have been criticizing the state of cricket in that part of the world. The likes of Sir Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd, Malcolm Marshall, Sir Gary Sobers, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose etc. have been an inspiration for budding cricketers in the past three to four decades. Once a powerhouse in the world of cricket, the West Indies cricket has been unable to redeem itself.

(Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)

The West Indies team was known as the All-Conquering team in the 1970’s, 80’s and somewhat 90’s. The world saw the ‘brilliance’ of Clive Lloyd, the ‘flamboyance’ of Sir Vivian Richards, The ‘all-round’ skills of Sir Gary Sobers and the ‘Grace’ of Brian Lara emerge and dominate the cricketing world. But in last 20 years, their authority in cricket has disappeared in the shadows of T20 cricket and emergence of other nations. The West Indies couldn’t match the skills and level of countries like India, Australia, England and South Africa. Somewhere down the line, the authority controlling cricket in the region know the reasons for this downfall but chose to ignore them.

In the recent past, the West Indies were unable to qualify for the ICC Champions trophy for the first time since its inception year in 1998. This can be marked as the lowest point in West Indies cricket as they were not amongst the top 8 teams in the world and made way were for once the ‘minnows’ of cricket Bangladesh. For a long time, the star players like Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy and Marlon Samuels were out of action due to a dispute with the cricket board over payment issues. This period had West Indies cricket in jeopardy as none of their replacement could fill in their shoes. Over a period of time, many former cricketers who once dominated the world of cricket have raised a question on the way cricket is being run in the country and have been annoyed by the team’s performance from time to time.

image courtesy: Getty Images

The West Indies cricket’s latest disappointment has been their drubbing at the hands of England in the first Test match played in England. They lost by an innings and 209 runs and lost 19 wickets in a single day’s play. Their performance was slammed by many former greats and ignited a call on whether the team even deserves to play test cricket anymore?

Some cricket pundits and experts feel this condition of the West Indies cricket is a result of money oriented T20 leagues which has attracted most of the young talents in the region. Youngsters have been drawn away from the Test format as they find the glittering world of T20 cricket more attractive and making money out of it has become their prime target.

Now the onus is on the Windies cricket board to revive the game in the Caribbean and bring glory days of the West Indies.

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