Great West Indian teams a flash in the pan
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By Guy Smiley, 7 Apr 2009 Guy Smiley is a Roar Rookie
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- Cricket, International Cricket, West Indies cricket
Despite the risk of veering towards knee-jerk tabloid journalism, I’m going to do it anyway by asking whether the emergence of the great West Indian teams of the late 70s and early 80s was merely a fluke which may never occur again?
Is the West Indies actually just a poor cricketing nation, like nearly all the others who enjoyed a prolonged but never to be repeated moment in the sun?
I may be over-simplifying here, but the game seems to be poorly funded, poorly followed and dependent on a significant minority of players of Indian origin. It is decentralised due to the geography of the region, and all those tiny island nations competing for dominance and influence on the board can’t help, either.
Where would the Windies be without Chris Gayle?
Brian Lara held them up respectably for over a decade. But before that, they were untouchable geniuses almost to a man. So why hasn’t that been built upon?
Granted the freakish innate ability of so many of those players would be very hard to replicate, but the treadmill has churned out very little since even worthy of standing in their shadow.
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sheek said | April 7th 2009 @ 9:29am | Report comment
Guy,
The Windies had outstanding cricketers right from their first official test series in 1928. The brilliant Trinidadian all-rounder Learie Constantine, nicknamed ‘electric eel’, was their first superstar. He was later knighted, & became a baron.
Right on his heels came the greatest (average-wise) of all Windies batsmen, the Jamaican genius George Headley, who was dubbed the ‘black Bradman’. Or as Caribbean fans saw it, Bradman was the ‘white Headley’!
Other pre-WW2 stars included opener Cliff Roach, who hit a double century against England, & excellent pacemen Manny Martindale & Herman Griffith. Of trivial interest is the part-chinese spinner Eddie Achong, who bowled left-arm leg spin, which type is now universally known as a ‘chinaman’ bowler.
Immediately post war, the Windies had the 3 ‘W’s’ – Barbadians Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes & Clyde Walcott. All 3 were of the very highest order, check out their batting averages. There were two outstanding openers in Jeff Stollmeyer & Allan Rae. There was also the highly talented allrounder Gerry Gomez.
In 1950, England were befuddled by two teenage spinners – Trinidadian leggie Sonny Ramadhin & Jamaican leftarmer Alf Valentine. In 1953/54, the world’s greatest allrounder – Gary Sobers – made his international debut at 17 years of age.
By 1960, most of the team that would dominate the cricketing world in the 60s had made their test debuts – Sobers, Conrad Hunte, Rohan Kanhai, Basil Butcher, Seymour Nurse, Wes Hall, Charlie Griffith & Lance Gibbs. Sadly, another allrounder & close mate of Sobers – Collie Smith – was killed in a motor vehicle accident in England.
Until Frank Worrell became the first (regular) black captain of the Windies, the team was known for its outstanding individual talent, but also waywardness & inconsistencies. Worrell was the first to harness the divergent skills & personalities of the Caribbean players, & forge them into a potent force.
As for the Windies pace production line, we’ve already mentioned Constantine, Martindle & H.Griffith pre-WW2. The first truly fast paceman post-WW2 was the volatile Roy Gilchrist, whose career ended prematurely& controversially in 1959/60. Then came Hall & Griffith, the template for future greats Andy Roberts, Mike Holding, Wayne Daniel, Colin Croft, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Sylvester Clarke, Courtney Walsh, Ian Bishop & Curtley Ambrose.
The pace production line has faltered previously, if briefly. Between Hall & C.Griffith’s demise in 1969 & the rise of Roberts & co from 1974 onwards, great & fast pacemen dried up in the Caribbean. There were some useful trundlers, but nothing truly outstanding. Honest toilers like Keith Boyce, Bernard Julien & Vanburn Holder.
To answer your question, what happened in the 70s & 80s wasn’t a flash in the pan, but the culmination of decades of increasing & sustained excellence. To put it another way, what has happened to Windies cricket in the past dozen years or so, cuts against the grain of a very rich history & tradition dating back 80 years.
Lazza said | April 7th 2009 @ 11:36am | Report comment
The Windies will never again be a force in Cricket. Why? The Kids over there were seduced by the NBA and EPL and have turned their back on Cricket. With all the riches and opportunities in those sports Cricket just can’t compete.
drewster said | April 7th 2009 @ 12:12pm | Report comment
Never say “never” in sport. You are comparing a side who arguably is rated in the top 2 or 3 of all time. Granted the Windies do not have a side to compare with that era and the pickings look slim right now but someone has got to stand up soon. It just seems to be in their history as “sheek” has pointed out. They have produced some of the greatest cricketers of all time and history would say they are due again, hopefully for cricket sooner than later.
ohtani's jacket said | April 7th 2009 @ 12:29pm | Report comment
They just beat England in a Test series.
onside said | April 7th 2009 @ 8:59pm | Report comment
OJ
Thats why the Aussies are licking their lips at the Ashes tour,the illusion of competiton ,but against an inferior
opponent. A while back Australia played New Zealand and the media tried to fabricate relevance. A big story
was Lees return to form after a lacklustre India.
What really gets up my nose is the Australian arrogance associated with the demise of the West Indies. The W I
is a very poor nation compared with Australia.When they were at their peak in the late 70′s a good quality cricket
bat might cost $40.Today its more likely to be over $300. An Australian family will pay the equivalent of a months
wages in the West Indies to watch a test match. And a comparitive weeks salary in the West Indies for one
ticket to an Australian one dayer.
The AIS ,a taxpayer funded sporting school for excellence has an elite cricket academy.This is all funded by ODI’s
and the recent Twenty/20 innovation. Test cricket and Sheild cricket LOSE MONEY. Like loss leaders in a retail
business they are propped up by two cash cows. The holy grail ,Test cricket is not financially viable as a stand
alone product.Neither is Sheild cricket with its empty stadiums that cost an absolute fortune to open for the few
hundred souls ,family mainly,who pop in for a look.Sheild cricket ,is given scant coverage in the media because
nobody gives a hoot.
For one minute give some thought how much the government generate in GST.There’s tickets,merchandise,travel,
room tariffs, restuarants,food and beverage,parking,petrol , and on and on and on.And then the government hand
a LITTLE back to fund the cricket academy or help build a new vote for me facility.Good stuff.But the West Indies
do not ,and can not ever have that.
And yet some people in Australia have the temarity to critise the West Indies who have none of the commercial
advantages available in Australia.There is no ‘AIS’ in the West Indies. Kids cant afford good quality equipment.
Ground keepers do not have the resources to display their craft.And on it goes.
The West Indies are vital to World Cricket..Australia should pump whatever it can afford into a West Indian school
of excellence and hope the resulting product means the West Indians win a Test match series from time to time.
For as long as I can remember going back to Wes Hall ,and Charlie Griffiths in the 60′s,elite West Indian cricketers
had to earn a living plying their craft overseas because even back then was no money playing at home.
Thats not a problem for fat cat Australian Test cricketers.The highest level of domestic cricket in Australia is Sheild.
Test cricketers are rarely available or given permission to play in this competition . Even the final.. That says it all.
Cricket needs the West Indies ,and how.Pump some money into it. But no ,like Pacific Island Rugby,nations that
give so much to that sport ,the West Indies will drift along and dissapear down memory lane whilst the rest of
the cricketing world tut tuts , thinking twenty years in the past ,is much closer than twenty years in the future .
cost
Guy Smiley said | April 8th 2009 @ 1:01am | Report comment
Sheek thanks for the informative and detailed potted history, it reveals a depth I was previously unaware of. Perhaps you are right in that their recent form is more of an aberration I don’t know. It is just sad to see such a feared competitor reduced to this state (witness the last World Cup and the recent unplayable pitch v England, both of them farces of the highest order).
sheek said | April 8th 2009 @ 7:13am | Report comment
Guy,
The Windies situation is truly sad, but their problems may become all of cricket’s problems. I myself wonder if I’ll be watching test cricket in 20 years time.
Lazza is right in that Windies youth are now seduced by American sports football, basketball & baseball, as well as soccer. Most Caribbean countries remain relatively poor (as Onside says), & there’s much more money to be made in soccer, football, basketball & baseball than cricket.
From about the mid 80s onwards, Windies cricket was no longer guaranteed getting the best youth for their game. That is now the reality of their situation. Whether it can be turned around is a question I don’t know the answer to.
It seems to me cricket is dumbing itself down (T20) in order to survive. Test cricket may become an anachronism in the future for a world long gone.
True Tah said | April 8th 2009 @ 8:04am | Report comment
Lazza,
I would chuck in Athletics along with futbol and basketball as taking the good athletes from cricket, especially in Jamaica. Athletics is perhaps the sport where Jamaica has excelled the most in recent years, with all due respect to their futbol and basketball counterparts.
For example, Usain Bolt was a keen cricketer in his youth, and is a huge fan of the game, as is Asafa Powell. Can you imagine those two as fast bowlers!!!!