West Indian cricket hits rock bottom after years of decline

Long gone are the days when the West Indians would rule cricket with what was the best pace attack in the world at the time along with world-class batters. The side that won the first two editions of the Prudential World Cup and nearly completed a hat-trick of titles are a far cry from the current side representing the English-speaking Caribbean nations that are struggling to even qualify for premier events, let alone win them.

On Saturday, West Indian cricket sunk to a new low when the Shai Hope-led outfit suffered a seven-wicket hammering at the hands of Scotland in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Super Six match in Harare. Windies entered the second round of the qualifying tournament needing to win all three matches and hoping other results went their way.

Instead, the West Indians dished out what was their most insipid performance of the qualifying campaign so far. One that ensured they missed out on the ODI World Cup — the tournament that is still considered to be cricket’s ultimate event — for the first time since its inception 48 years ago.

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Gradual decline

The West Indians dominated the sport 1970s and the 1980s under the leadership of Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards thanks primarily to the exploits of legendary pacers such as Joel Garner, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, Colin Croft, etc.

The team however, would begin a steady decline in the mid-1990s despite boasting of legendary names such as Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, and their defeats in England and Australia in 2000-01 season would all but signal the end of their glory days.

While the decline was a gradual one, Windies would have its moments, especially in the white-ball arena. The Brian Lara-led team had stunned England in the final of the 2004 Champions Trophy to win their first ICC event in 25 years. They would finish runners-up in the same event two years later in India, where they would lose to Ricky Ponting’s might Australia.

Daren Sammy then led the West Indians to World T20 triumphs in 2012 and 2016 along with a semi-final finish in 2014. Even if they weren’t at their best in Tests and one-dayers, the star-studded West Indian had become a force in the shortest format in that decade.

There were also a couple of Test series wins against Joe Root-led England — both at home, in 2018-19 and 2020-21 respectively. More than anything else, the Test wins did give fans in the Caribbean and across the world hope of a resurgence in West Indian cricketer.

The brief period of T20 dominance and the Test wins against England, however, couldn’t translate to long-term success for the side that was struggling to adapt to the changing landscape of cricket in the modern era.

Things would then only go downhill for the side following their second World T20 title in 2016; they would fail to reach the 2017 Champions Trophy, would have to take the qualifying route for the first time to make the cut for the 2019 ODI World Cup. They began their T20 World Cup defence in 2021 in disastrous fashion and bowed out with just one win in five outings, and failed to even make it to the main round of same tournament the very next year.

‘Preparation needs to be better’

West Indies’ performances in the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League weren’t very inspiring either. The team began the cycle with 3-0 whitewash at the hands of Bangladesh and would later suffer a series defeat at the hands of Ireland on home soil and collect just nine wins in 24 games to finish at the ninth spot and miss out on an automatic spot for the World Cup along the way.

The preparation wasn’t up to the mark either. They had half their side missing in the one-day series in the UAE that was meant to get the team ready for the World Cup Qualifier, with a number of senior stars rested in the aftermath of the Indian Premier League (IPL). As for their performances in the Qualifier itself, their poor fielding, wayward bowling as well as the lack of form of some of their main batters made it look as if the West Indians were never serious about securing passage to India in the first place.

“To be honest, it’s not one thing I can put my finger on. We certainly let ourselves down in the tournament,” Windies captain Hope said after the humiliating defeat against Scotland.

“It really has to do with the attitude. The fielding is an attitude according to me, catches will be dropped and misfields will happen, that’s a part of the game and I feel that we did not give 100 per cent effort every time, we did it in patches.

“It starts with the foundation from back home, the preparation needs to be better. We cannot come here and expect to be an elite team without preparation. You can’t expect to wake up one morning and be a great team,” added Hope.

Where it has gone wrong all these years

The blame game has been going on within West Indian cricket circles for a long time regarding the downfall of their brand of cricket, but the biggest contributor to their decline would undoubtedly be the emergence of T20 leagues across the world that have given their cricketers a viable option to make a decent living as a professional cricket.

West Indian cricketers are among the most sought-after in the IPL as well as in all the other leagues across the world — they make for some of the most explosive openers, the wiliest of spinners along with some exceptional all-rounders. While the Chris Gayles and Dwayne Bravos and the Kieron Pollards produce one exceptional performance after another in the leagues, they often lack the same motivation while donning the maroon jersey.

It’s not just the mushrooming of T20 leagues alone however — barring India, players from all the other top sides are allowed to ply their trade in leagues across the world. The only difference that players from other teams do not lose motivation to make their country proud at the same time as earning big bucks in the slam-bang format.

The deteriorating relations between the players and Cricket West Indies (CWI) has only added fuel to the fire in this regard. The board continues to find itself mired in corruption from top to bottom and has still not able to make the prospect of representing the Caribbean a happy one. There have been multiple faceoffs between the board and player unions, primarily regarding wages, and lack of money only makes it easier for player to take the ‘Guns-For-Hire’ route.

Only one way forward: Up

The defeat against Scotland and the subsequent exit from the race to the World Cup appears to have been the final nail in the coffin for West Indian cricket. There is however, only one way forward when an individual or a team has hit rock bottom, and that is an upwards trajectory.

Senior all-rounder Jason Holder too echoed similar sentiments despite the team finding itself at its lowest point in nearly a century of its existence in the sport.

“I don’t think all is lost. There’s a lot of young guys in the group who can definitely develop and turn things around for West Indies cricket. We’ve got a young crop of players and we’ve got to put some support around them. It’s really important that we try to utilise time outside of competition and put things in place where we can develop our talent.

“We have to look at the levels below and improve them so that when guys get here, they have a good foundation. It’s an area we need to pay some special attention to. It’s not a quick fix. It’s something we need to spend time on. Development is the most important thing. Hopefully in the next couple of years we can see the fruits of that crop,” Holder said.

There have been miraculous comeback in sport. Italy would go on to win Euro 2020 despite missing out on the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It’s not too outlandish to expect something similar from a side as packed with talent as the West Indies.

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