Before you continue with the fall of the West Indian empire, I would encourage you to read the rise of their empire.
Once the golden era was over, West Indies cricket started to disintegrate. In the beginning, it was mild and as days and months progressed, the pace quickened and it ended in a drastic fall from grace. The fall has been so great that it is unknown whether West Indies cricket, leave alone the glory of old, will even be able to gain some respectability. The fall has been full and complete. Quite a few players have toiled to paper over the cracks but it has kept widening. Ever since the last great batsman from the islands retired, Brian Lara, the island nations have struggled to produce one player of repute.
West Indies played for pride
Towards the end of Richards’s career, the West Indies were more or less playing for pride. This was reflected in the manner Ambrose and Walsh toiled once all the greats have retired. These excellent bowlers won the very first series against South Africa. They were responsible for humiliating England.
They still had good players but they never had the same awe their predecessors commanded. West Indies toured India in 1994. A series they were expected to lose. India were to become the first team to defeat the West Indies in over 15 years. Fortunately or unfortunately, the West Indies pride came to the fore at the right moment and the series was shared. Jimmy Adams, who earned the moniker, Padams alongwith Walsh were instrumental in not losing that series.
However, every good things must one day come to an end. It did for West Indies. Against Australia in 2005, they lost their first series in 17 years and with that the downward slide started.
Too many great players gone
The combined might of Lloyd, Marshall, Holding, Garner, Croft, Daniel, Richards, Roberts, Greenidge and a few others leaving around more or less within the space of a few years is tough for any team to compensate. More so for the island nations. They just did not have the same quality of players any longer. The islands weren’t able to produce world beaters from a small population.
They still had some great ones in Walsh, Ambrose and later Brian Lara. Walsh and Ambrose for all their brilliance, wasn’t able to carry the entire bowling attack on their shoulders. Not that West Indies were losing but they weren’t winning. This showed in the ODI arena where the number of games lost were greater than the number of games won. They needed support. It emerged in the form of Ian Bishop. Everyone who had seen Bishop bowl would have witnessed the emergence of a bowler who was comparable with the great quartet. However, a back injury laid him low and he drifted into the oblivion.
Brian Lara, certainly amongst the top three batsmen of his era, tried to keep the batting flame burning. He was only one man and he could only do so much. The opposition found a way around him. In one of the series, Lara scored close to 700 runs. Yet, his team lost 0-3 to Sri Lanka.
The decline well and truly set
The series loss to Australian in 1995 set the ball in motion. The gradual decline started from there. It will not be wrong to state that the West Indian community simply lost interest in the game once that series was lost. Till then that burning desire of never to lose a test series kept them going but once that shield was broken through, the public stopped caring about the game.
An apology of a board
The West Indies Cricket Board is perhaps the most mismanaged cricket board after Zimbabwe. They do not have money to pay even the retainer fees of their players. There is lot of infighting amongst the board members. The board is always fighting with the national captain. They wanted a team and a captain who will do their bidding. The case of how Darren Sammy replaced Chris Gayle as the captain is a case in point. The WICB cannot tolerate anyone who has even a remote chance of challenging their authority. They were a bunch of arrogant and highhanded officials. Incapable of changing according to the modern world.
As a result, most of the players who could have atleast made the team competitive in their own islands, decided to ply their wares in various leagues around the world. Most of them became mercenaries. For the first few years after the start of IPL , the board banned all the players who refused to play for West Indies while the IPL was in progress. This led to lot of bickering amongst the team. This simply is not the way how a board must handle its professional team. Finally, better sense seems to have prevailed and they are now admitted to play for the team.
The NBA in nearby America started to attract lot of youngsters from the Caribbean. The money on offer was and is attractive. It is no wonder that a lot of young Caribbean now prefer to move to America and play in the NBA. It does make sense with money not coming out of cricket, youngsters are forced to take another sport.
Conclusion
The absolute nadir was achieved when West Indies for the first time lost a test series to Pakistan in West Indies. It is really difficult to see a way out for West Indies cricket. Money is one of the problem but lack of talent is the main problem. Just sample this. It has been more than 20 years since they have won a test against India. A team they were once beating for fun. Times have changed. The ICC & Indian board can help spread the game in those lovely islands but to make the younger population play the game is depended on the willingness of the island nations. I will part with these words from one of the magnificent bowler, Curtly Ambrose.
“It’s really sad to see West Indies cricket the way it is,” says Curtly Ambrose.
“We were so accustomed to being No. 1 in the world and being the team that everyone wants to beat. To see the decline as a former cricketer is very hard to take,”.
There was always going to be a decline …. no team can rule the world forever,”. We are taking a little too long, in my opinion, to bounce back.