How tragic is it to see West Indies cricket languishing in the doldrums.
The days of domination in the 1980s, with the swagger of Vivian Richards, the class of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes and the fearsome fast bowling battery that included Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding and Colin Croft seem like a distant memory.
Perhaps the single key along with the unquestionable talent was the leadership of the great Clive Lloyd. His ability to integrate different cultures and players from different islands as well as have the respect and voice of the West Indies board was a key to the longevity of success.
Their status as an almost minnow nation now, where oppositions look to bolster their stats, can be traced back to a lack of leadership at the top.
Their inabiltity to get the likes of Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Ramnaresh Sarawan, Jerome Taylor and Chris Gayle to play international cricket on a regular basis is decimating the side.
The addition of these world class players would immediately make them a force against any side.
The board also asked Shivnarine Chanderpaul, now the number one batsman in the world, to retire a year ago. Thankfully for them, he had the character and heart to stand up to them.
In my opinion, there is one man who can resurrect West Indies cricket and attract the best back to Test cricket. The man with the strength, knowledge and voice to do this is ‘Whispering Death’ Michael Holding.
Let’s hope someone involved with West Indies cricket realises it sooner rather than later.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Rsigni, Grats. You just nailed the problem. 'lets hope they". Nothing about "We". Nothing about "plan". Nothing about what Australia could do. Nothing about what cricket as a whole could do. Just "lets hope they can recitify things". Hell, if the ACB were serious, and they're not, you'd go to the West Indies players "Right. Play in the West Indies Test Side, play for your Islands in the domestic comp, and we're inviting you blokes into the Big Bash as a team. You, the players, will get half the net from the ground income, plus a bonus payment linked to tv ratings, and we're guaranteeing you games in Sydney and Melbourne".
rsingi
Roar Rookie
I agree the rise of other sports has been a big factor. World cricket needs a strong West Indies so lets hope they can rectify things ASAP.
Marc
Guest
It is sad to see the demise of the Windies. I agree that Michael Holding could be a positive force for reform but the main problem is dollars and cents. The countries comprising the West Indies are incredibly poor and small nations without the financial wherewithal to offer a viable amount of money to their talented cricketers. Cricket generally is on the decline, except for perhaps, T20 which has attracted non cricket people to the game. Test cricket is all but dead except for Australia, England and to a lesser degree, South Africa. In my view, a resurgence in Test cricket, in particular in the West Indies, needs to be driven by the ICC and the many millions of tax free dollars they earn in Dubai. Offer a reasonable amount of pay to young cricketers in the West Indies and I think the rest will follow. Holding could be the man to start the ball rolling. The ICC is going to provide the finances to make sure it happens.
Johnno
Guest
Very sad sad indeed. Cricket has never been the same since the west indies decline in 1995, and for the worse not better. Reasons for decline or some -Geographic location to USA and therefore the satatlie tv showing US sports -Basketball has caught there or went though high populairty in the 90's ice hockey hardly could obviously but basketball quite popular. -The rise of soccer, as soccer with the internet and globalistion especially hitting cricket the hardest in code wars and taking talent and market share. Jamiaca(1998 world cup ), and trinadad and tobago (2006 world cup) as examples of caribeen nations doing well in soccer -A terrible and divisive board, west indies cricket history littered with board factions -No money for top up to date coaching of infrastruture at junior level grassroots level -And general decline of test cricket as a sport too means less people in west indies inspired by test cricket -But on a positive they seem to love T20 cricket . But have lost interest in ODI's too -And also this is the modern world 2012, and you have to remember the west indies are not a country, just an island group of all independant countries forming a team. Nothing like it in word sport maybe the British and irish lions would be the equivilant. -So all these nations are independant so maybe lose pride in the jersey or playing for west indies as it is not there country. In soccer the thought of jamiaca and trinadad and tobago, and barbados forming a team would be unthinkable, but not with the quirkiness that cricket is. - I can see why a pacific island rugby union team has always failed, as these are individual nations(fiji,samoa,tonga), all with very distinct cultures,languages, and values. Think about it if you are from Fiji your Fijian you don't want to play in a combined team with for samoa why would you. Your from Fiji an independant coutnry totally different to Samoa or Tonga. -Could you see a combined ANZAC cricket or rugby team joining forces , and dithcing the All Blacks and wallabies, as teams. Hardly. -So that is an issue to for West indies cricket in the modern world , they are all indepednant nations not 1 country making up the west indies cricket team.
Arnie
Guest
Totally agree chilavert,always been a big fan of the Windies cricket. Cannot believe what has happened over the last two decades. In my opinion politics between the islands, and extremely large amounts of money and endorsements have taken over from the love of playing the game and passion for representing your country. You could probably say this for majority of other sports. Sad to say ridiculous amounts of money have ruined sport. Players play for the money not for the love of the game.