Instead of pining for the past when the West Indies were the Calypso Kings of cricket, perhaps it’s time to realise the golden days were the exception rather than the rule.
The Windies are forever burdened by grand expectations because of an exceptional era in which they were the undisputed champions on the international cricket scene.
But times change. Times have changed.
And when you’re talking about a geographical group of distinct Caribbean nations playing together under the one flag, with a collective population of around 6.5 million, it’s no wonder they have not been able to regularly compete with the might of cricket’s bigger nations.
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In the early days they struggled, after World War II they achieved respectability, they dominated the global landscape for a couple of decades and for the past 30 years they’ve struggled.
West Indies celebrates a wicket against the Prime Minister’s XI. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
The current team has reverted to the mean more so than let down the legends of the past.
Like Sir Donald Bradman’s outlier Test average of 99.94, the Windies’ success from the mid 1970s over a 20-year span is the exception to the rule, not what should be expected of an entity which tries to unite the politics and agendas of 15 independent nations.
The Windies – divided into six territories representing Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, and the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands groups – have modest resources when compared to the might of India, Australia, England and many of cricket’s full member nations.
Uniting everyone to achieve success is extremely difficult, according to former Windies batter Brendan Nash, who played 21 Tests from 2008-11 after beginning his first-class career in Queensland.
“I came from a slightly different angle from where I came from into that environment so quickly so that added another level of complexity when you’re trying to get all those nations to play under the one blanket,” Nash told The Roar.
“I wouldn’t say there was a divide but not the understanding of how to get the best out of certain players from some of the smaller islands. It was very much at times it felt individual, like they were doing their thing because that’s all they knew.
Brendan Nash during the Third Test match between Australia and the West Indies at Perth in 2009. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
“I saw that as one of the biggest challenges – how you unite everyone and get them on the same page, trying to have a clear goal of the way we do things, a mantra.”
Nash said comparisons with the champion sides of yesteryear were mentioned a lot during his time and he would have loved to have had more legends from the past imparting their knowledge.
He added the Windies suffered from an ongoing problem with resources from a lack of funding for infrastructure to get kids playing cricket and having solid pathways to the top.
“You’ve got to remember it’s a different environment when you’re talking about Third World countries and what might be afforded to young players in Australia is not available to them.
“They’re from a much poorer background and I’d see players trialling for the national team who didn’t have their own kit because they didn’t have the money,” he said. “They’ve travelled on a bus for two and a half hours to get to trial games, it was an eye-opening experience.”
And then there’s the problem of the T20 leagues taking players away from the first-class pathway to Test cricket with lucrative contracts.
“I really hope the Windies get back to some sort of standing in the Test arena,” Nash said. “I think the fans of West Indies cricket need a good showing (against Australia).
“They’ve got guys now who are at the peak time of their career and they will be challenged for sure in Australia but you just never know with the West Indies. I’ll be cheering for them.”
As they approach the 100-year anniversary of their first Test later this decade, West Indies cricket can be divided into four distinct eras from their humble origins in the 19th century to now.
Pre-World War II: the first team was selected in 1886 to tour the US and Canada but it was an all-white side filled with wealthy expat British amateurs. They played their first official Tests in England in 1928 and prior to the war, won four of their 22 matches, managing a draw on six occasions.
Post-World War II: with Frank Worrell finally becoming the first black full-time captain in 1960 (incidentally starting his tenure with the famous tied Test in Brisbane), the Windies punched well above their weight.
Worrell’s record of nine wins and only three losses in 15 Tests paved the way for Sir Garfield Sobers, the greatest all-rounder in cricket history, in an era where the Windies earned respect worldwide for their skill, athleticism and sportsmanship.
In the three decades until the history-defining 1975-76 tour of Australia, they won 45, lost 36 and drew 54, along with the historic tie, for a 33% success rate.
The West Indies hoist the 1979 Cricket World Cup trophy. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)
1976-95: After they were hammered from pillar to post by Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson’s thunderbolts in a 5-1 series rout, captain Clive Lloyd decided to adopt Australia’s intimidatory tactics.
Lloyd, who had suffered a broken jaw facing Thomson, put his faith in an armada of fast bowlers including Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall to fight fire with fire.
Along with Lloyd, they also had a golden generation of batters led by one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the century in Sir Viv Richards, along with openers Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge, and a little later, Richie Richardson.
Richards succeeding Lloyd as captain in the mid 1980s and then Richardson in ‘91 didn’t halt their dominance. During this two-decade stretch their only series loss was a contentious 1-0 defeat in New Zealand amid accusations of biased umpiring.
They went 74-24-57 in their 155 Tests at a 47.7% success rate, mostly under Lloyd (61), Richards (50) and Richardson (23), collecting the 1975 and ‘79 ODI World Cup trophies along the way.
1995-now: Which brings us to the post-glory days era. Just 57 wins from 246 Tests at a 23.17% rate since Steve Waugh’s 200 to clinch Australia’s series win in Jamaica signalled the end of the Windies’ reign in 1995.
In the decade leading up to Brian Lara’s retirement at the 2007 World Cup as the last legends of the 1990s faded into retirement – Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Carl Hooper – the decline was steep. They won 21% of matches under Lara, Hooper, Walsh, Jimmy Adams and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
(Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)
Then the likes of Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo brought hope but were lured away from Tests by the riches of the T20 leagues and from 2007-15 they won just 15 of 72 Tests to continue the downhill slide.
But in the past seven years, the Windies have without much fanfare, started to regain respectability, first under Jason Holder and recently with Kraigg Braithwaite as skipper.
They’ve won 17 of 57 Tests at an improved 29.82% success rate and they enter this two-match assignment in Australia after beating England 1-0 over three games and Bangladesh 2-0 in a sweep in the Caribbean earlier this year.
Braithwaite told reporters in Perth on Tuesday that his team was determined to show they can mix it with Test cricket’s best over the next fortnight.
“Obviously we were great in the past,” Brathwaite said.
“We still use it as a motivation. We still aim to get to that but it is a process.
“We have started that process, in years to come if we still have younger guys in the group still prioritising red-ball cricket.
“Once we do that and stick together as a group I think we can improve and get to those great levels.”
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