Monday the 16th of February 2015 might have gone down as uneventful for most people but for the game of Cricket, it was a day of seismic shift.
Saxton Oval in Nelson is a ground with little history in regards to international cricket but Ireland’s defeat of the West Indies at the venue will ensure its name is remembered for generations to come.
For Ireland, it’s the third consecutive tournament where they’ve recorded a victory over an ICC Full Test playing nation. When the ICC next meets, one of its priorities must be to clear a path for Ireland to achieve Test status.
Irish cricket is moving forward at an unrelenting pace and has a central contract system yet it is always in danger of losing its best players to the opportunities and riches of England. Eoin Morgan, Boyd Rankin and Ed Joyce (who eventually returned) have all left Irish cricket due to the lack of high-level cricket Ireland has the opportunity to play.
The ICC’s other priority must be to fix the parlous state of cricket in the West Indies. If the Irish win was evidence of their need for progress, the West Indies defeat was a serious reminder of the depths this proud side has sank.
When they get around to turning the history of Windies cricket into a Hollywood blockbuster, it will be similar to Goodfellas as the story of Caribbean cricket has been one of a great rise and a hard fall.
From the great 1960-61 series against Australia, through to their domination of world cricket in the 70s and 80s to one last great generation of the 1990s, the West Indies were a fearsome force. But since a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Australia in the 2000-2001 summer, cricket in the Caribbean has fallen to depths unimaginable 30 years ago.
A lack of funding mixed with an inability to produce quality first-class cricket across the Islands has seen technical deficiencies explode in their batting and bowling. When you consider the great batsmen of previous sides in Greenidge, Haynes, Richards and Lara, there seems little appetite for a Caribbean batsman to step up.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo have valiantly tried to continue a great tradition but are fighting a losing battle, while Chris Gayle has become more renowned for his performances off the field than anything he has done with the bat lately.
And when you remember the great pace attacks that terrorised the world and sent Australian batsmen into psychiatric institutions, the anonymity of the current pace attack is laughable. Twenty20 cricket has not only made these deficiencies worse but its riches have seen promising youth abandon the Windies to chase the almighty dollar.
This dollar hunting has also extended to pay-for-play disputes that have crippled tours and seen the governing board end up on the wrong side of $26 million compensation claim from India after the players abandoned a tour late last year.
It’s a travesty that the ICC has allowed the West Indies to stoop to a level where there’s genuine fears about their status in world cricket. The ICC needs to use a significant portion of the huge broadcasting deal it has for the next seven years to give West Indies cricket a boost.
Meanwhile, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) needs to continue to recruit cricket greats from yesteryear to help develop a new generation of stars.
The WICB also needs to invest in new facilities and devote whatever is left of the income from hosting the 2007 World Cup into making cricket relevant to a generation of Caribbean youth that see football and athletics as the premier sports of the region.
While Irish elevation to Test cricket will be positive, the potential demise of West Indies cricket could be the most devastating loss to the game in recent memory.
Despite the beatings the West Indies once inflicted on Australia, we should not gloat or smile at their current predicament. The Caribbean boys were great rivals who played the game in an exemplary fashion and we need them to rise to prominence again.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Check out some of the short-arm pull shots from Rocky Flintoff!
Harshal Patel was not a happy man!
David Lord has been remembered as an icon of Australian sports journalism following his death, aged 84. The renowned writer and broadcaster was an…
Sign the man up for a contract next season!
RCB have suffered a massive HEAD-ACHE after Travis Head smashed the fastest century by an SRH player in just 39 balls, as they amassed…
A brutal century by Travis Head has blasted Sunrisers Hyderabad back into the Indian Premier League play-off places in another match for bowlers to…
