As Australia gets ready to tour the Caribbean to play a tri-ODI series against the West Indies and South Africa next month (June 3 to 26) let us recapture the ups and downs of West Indies cricket.
No cricket team has taken such roller-coaster rides as the West Indies from 1950s to 2016, zooming down from heroes to zeroes in Test cricket since the 1990s.
They have produced legends galore since World War II:
George Headley – the Black Bradman, spin kings Sonny Ramadhin, Alf Valentine and Lance Gibbs, three winsome Ws Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott, and the Immortals Garry Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards.
There were life-threatening fast bowlers Wes Hall, Roy Gilchrist, Charlie Griffith, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.
Prolific opening batsmen Jeff Stollmeyer, Conrad Hunte, Gordon Greenidge, Roy Fredericks and Desmond Haynes. And more recently contrasting batsmen Alvin Kallicharran, Brian Lara, Shinaraine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle.
From the 1960s to the end of 1980s, the West Indies were el-supremos who ruled Test cricket. They also won the inaugural Cricket World Cup in 1975 and regained it in 1979. In 1983, they lost to India in the final.
But they have taken a downward plunge in all levels of cricket since the 1990s, with relations between the players and their cricket board a major contributing factor. This reached its nadir in 2014 when the players pulled out from the tour in India and returned home mid-tour.
However their lifting the World T20 Trophy in Kolkata, India, last month, defeating favoured teams India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and England might just trigger off a positive upward trend.
The climax was reached when Carlos Brathwaite hit four successive sixes in the last over to beat England in the final and lift the trophy.
Was their board delighted with this stunning victory? Far from it! They reprimanded the victorious captain Darren Sammy and the players for criticising the board openly and for removing their shirts while celebrating their championship win in Kolkata.
The Steve Smith-led Australian team to tour the Caribbean this June for a tri-series against South Africa and the West Indies should not take the opposition lightly. The Windies have united as seldom before to prove their board wrong and are determined to win the series. They now have the incentive.
Below is the Australian squad under Steve Smith with David Warner as vice-captain.
Openers: Warner and Aaron Finch.
Middle-order batsmen: Usman Khawaja, Smith, George Bailey, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, James Faulkner.
Wicket-keeper batsman: Matthew Wade.
Fast to fast-medium bowlers: Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Scott Boland.
Off-spinners: Nathan Lyon, Travis Head.
Leg-spinner: Adam Zampa.
Faulkner (medium-pace), Maxwell (off-spin), Warner and Smith (leg-spin) are useful change bowlers.
Interestingly, there are five ambidextrous players in the Aussie squad: Faulkner, Finch, Khawaja, Head and Hazlewood. Besides, Maxwell is an ambidextrous batsman, flummoxing fielders with his reverse sweep!
As 2015 World Cup champions, Australia are favourites to win the tri-nation ODI series. But West Indians have the home advantage and will do their best to show their board their winning ways.
South Africa have the strongest team, and quite a few Aussies are carrying injuries, thanks to the IPL.
It will be worth staying up late to watch the tri-series. I shall keep the coffee machine on until early mornings!
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