Caribbean Cricket-The Debasement & Challenges(Part 2 of Brazilian football & Caribbean Cricket)
The Debasement & Challenges
Part 2 (Brazilian football & Caribbean Cricket)
In the first part of this article on Brazilian
Football & Caribbean Cricket, the glory and the debasement of Brazilian
football, with all their achievements, their journey to stardom and descent with
respect to their World Class performance were elaborated with respective
findings. However, as told, Brazil as in its current status, is number 6 in the FIFA
ranking, but we cannot agree on the fact that Brazil still has the upper hand in
World Football. The brain drains, the choice of different Worldwide rich
football leagues with no such financial strength available to maintain similar
standards in home football, the situation is not taking Brazilian football back to
its glorious days.
Coming to Cricket and analyzing the might of West
Indies Cricket then and now, reflects a similar connotation as we have seen in
Football, Brazil. Maybe there are differences in the reasons, or there can be
some varying factors, but the results are the same.
West Indies ruled World Cricket from 60s to the 80s
and ruled the Test Cricket scenario for 15 long years from 1975 to 1990. Between West Indies were also the World Champions in One Day Cricket
from its inaugural year 1975 & 1979.
The early 60s, with Clyde Walcott and Everton Weekes retired, saw the arrival of other greats under the new Captain Frank Worrell, namely Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Conrad Hunte, Wesley Hall, Lance Gibbs, Seymore Nurse, Basil Butcher & later on Griffith and others.
The team earned a reputation, applause from
the spectators wherever they were playing. By of 60s, the players who were
performing slowly started retiring, and Garfield Sobers took charge around 1964.
The team West Indies started defeating each and every country for the next five
years till the time all seniors except for Sobers were retiring. Suddenly, the
undeclared World Test Champion was losing its grip on its supremacy, and
for the next six years, the team under the West Indies was performing with mixed
success.
Clive Lloyd, coming back to the West Indies, started searching for the bowling quartet which he had strategized four upon four, and started scouting for real pace bowlers, and moved all around the islands. This started the new journey of pace bowlers starting from Holding, Garner, Croft, Marshall, Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, in addition to they had Andy Roberts. Malcom Marshall was a complete bowler who was feared by the batsmen all over the World.
The
next all series against Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, India in the
period between 1976 till 1990 they recorded maximum wins including series wins.
Walsh also resembled Holding to some extent. With two greats retired, another two joined with the same caliber. Marshall continued for a few more years, along with the new set of bowlers, including Ian Bishop, joining the new. With Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, and Vivian Richards around, the team was slowly losing the aura of an unbeatable side. By the end of the 80s, finding good replacements for class players was becoming difficult.
Fall
from grace (1990s–2000s)
It came early 90s, and slowly the great players retired one by one. With the hollowness in the team in the absence of Richards, Greenidge, Dujon, Larry Gomes, Malcom Marshall, the balance players who were performing under their shadow remained to take the legacy forward. In between, Richie Richardson became the new Captain, and Desmond Haynes also slowly left the game. Later, Carl Hooper became one of the mainstays for the West Indies team, who also had led the side for quite some time. Gus Logie and Roger Harper also became the batting backbone, along with their new Captain. Courtney Walsh was the main speedster, and the team got new talented players in Brian Lara, Jimmy Adams, Phil Simmons, Keith Arthurton, Winston Benjamin, along with Curtly Ambrose and Ian Bishop in the bowling attack. For another five years West Indies tried to stay on top, but slowly they slipped in test matches, World Cup Cricket, with either not qualifying for the semi-finals or losing in the semi-finals.
Brian Lara continued to be the main batsman for West
Indies in the 90s along with Shivnarine Chanderpaul & Ramnaresh Sarwan. Chris
Gayle also made his debut during 1999-2000 and went on to become one of the
best players in ODI and T20. He also performed reasonably well in Test cricket.
Both Ambrose and Courtney Walsh retired by 2001, leaving a big gap
in the formidable and dreaded pace attack of the West Indies. In and out of
captaincy, Brian Lara was restored to the captaincy in 2002-03, but the team could
not produce results, and it slipped to eighth ranking in Test Cricket. His last
act as a Captain was a welcome surprise for Caribbean Cricket by winning the
2004 ICC Champions Trophy. The irony is West Indies didn't qualify in the 2017 and 2025 editions.
Sunil Naraine, Andre Russel, Darren Sammy, Jason
Holder, Braithwaite, Bravo brothers Dwayne & Darren, Ramdin, Nicholas
Pooran were the other players who took the place of all other star players who
had slowly retired. In the bowling section, none could match the battery of pace
bowlers who dominated from mid 70s to mid 90s.
Dispute of Players with the West Indies Board on
contractual terms and payments:
However, this big achievement amongst the losses in Test
Matches and new players emerging to take the heavy weight of West Indies
Cricket on their shoulders was short-lived as a major dispute broke out between the West
Indies Players Association and West Indies Cricket Board.
The point of contention
was clause 5 of the tour contract, which gave WICB the sole and
exclusive right to arrange for sponsorship, advertising, licensing,
merchandising, and promotional activities relating to WICB or any WICB Team. Due
to the dispute, Lara and others were absent in a away series against South
Africa with Shivnarine
Chanderpaul becoming captain. Some. A resolution did not arise
until October 2005, when a full-strength side was finally named for the 2005–06 tour of Australia. It was on this tour
that Brian Lara overtook Australian Allan Border as the highest run-scorer
in Test match cricket,
despite the West Indies losing the series 3–0.
In 2009, another dispute
erupted when many senior players decided not to take part over pay and contract
issues. The WICB chose a second-string side to take part in a series against
Bangladesh and the Champions Trophy. In 2012, ICC decided to get involved
in resolving this long-standing dispute.
In 2014, another dispute
between WICB and the West Indian Players Association (WIPA) led to the team's
Indian tour being curtailed. The bone of contention was a protracted payment
structure.
In 2015, Players made
themselves unavailable for tests, and Jason Holder was thrust into the
role of captaincy, and was met with much distrust between veteran bowlers and
Holder and the administration, and selectors. As a result, the West Indies lost 21
matches by an innings since 1995–2015, when the team never lost more than 4
matches by over an innings combined from 1966 to 1995.
In between with advent of
T20 Cricket, West Indies could restore some pride by winning the T20 World Cup in 2012
and 2016, but that did not reduce the conflict; on the other hand
Impact of IPL and T20
Leagues
In the meantime, in 2008 Indian Premier League
started, and players like Chris Gayle, Sunil Naraine to be joined by Kevin
Pollard, and Andre Russell found that such leagues as the most promising way to sustain
with good payback. This change happened slowly, only to gather momentum once
other T20 leagues like BBL, CPL, and all others worldwide. It so happened that
the upcoming talents who represented the West Indies in Test Cricket or ODI &
T20, slowly made it a point to move towards T20 Cricket, leaving Test Cricket as
it gave them more money and short-term fame.
Chris Gayle-The best in T20
The players like Sunil Naraine, Andre Russel, and later
on Chris Gayle were happier playing the T20 format than the longer version of
the game. This continued to happen as the West Indies board could not find a
proper path to bind the players with them through rewarding incentives, prized
contracts, and a pension post-retirement. It is said that the West Indies Board is
not run by the Senior players, and there are a lot of complaints against their
dealings, which are not fair.
The saga of downfall continued with such indifferent
attitudes towards the players, and also vice versa. There is no dearth of talent, but the system, it seems, has become corrupted with respect to the selection of the right
players from different islands, the absence of team bonding due to different
regional mindsets set, and above all, no transparency in the selection/ administration/
management of the Board.
Early retirement trend – A strategy
Sunil Naraine retired from Test Cricket and ODI,
Nicholas Pooran retired from International Cricket in Jun 2025. They are the
big examples of such decisions.
T20 aligns with big-hitting Caribbean DNA, and it seems
that this trend is grasping the entire lot, including the talented individuals.
Andre Russell, the
explosive West Indian all-rounder, has shed light on the ongoing issue of
premier West Indian cricketers opting out of Test matches in favor of lucrative
T20 leagues around the world. Russell believes that the lack of interest in
Tests stems from a shift in priorities rather than financial concerns.
"I don't think it's
the money, I don't think money is the issue," Russell told Press
Association. "Based on the amount of T20 and leagues around the world, I
think a lot of players are just not interested in playing Tests."
Russell, along with several other high-profile West Indian players, has been absent from the Test team in recent years, opting instead to participate in T20 leagues such as The Hundred. This has raised concerns about the future of Test cricket in the Caribbean.
Challenges ahead:
All the above highlight the challenges facing West Indies cricket as it grapples with the changing
landscape of the sport. The team's struggles in Test cricket have raised
questions about the future of the format in the Caribbean, while the popularity
of T20 leagues has created a new set of priorities for players.
West Indies Board has
recently entered into a two-year contract with the current set of players, giving
them playing security and, to some extent, financial stability & guarantee.
West Indies are not on the same level playing field, and keeping in mind the downfall, Cricket West
Indies called for an emergency meeting with Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards, Brian
Lara, Desmond Haynes, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, and Darren Sammy placed a road
map for revival.
This all happened after
the West Indies were dismissed for 27 runs against Australia in the last test
match played at Sabina Park in Kingston. The meeting took place soon after
that.
The batting coach, Jimmy
Adams, agreed in the meeting that there are players who are scoring so many runs
at the regional level but clearly have deficiencies when it comes to the international
level. It is going to be difficult to change everything in a few weeks. The
issues concerning strength and conditioning affect the most, as the facilities need to be improved and placed for all budding talents. CWI has planned to
have a proper high-performance center established in the region, a prototype
that will then be replicated across the region in other areas, including Academy
systems, to ensure that the West Indies way of playing Cricket is taught from an early age.
The CWI Director, Bascombe, agreed and expressed his concern, saying, “We will never be able to
compete with franchise money, everybody acknowledges that, the only thing which we
need to inculcate is the pride in playing, pride in performing, and pride in
representing West Indies.”
CWI chief executive Dehring
said,: we have identified a list of about hundred things we have to improve,
but probably among top five: facilities at every level for our Cricketers;
practice pitches across the region; the quality of our domestic tournaments
resulting in skill deficiencies at various levels which has glaring effect when
it reaches the International level vis-à-vis our International counterparts.”
The basic issue of the
game has been commercialized to a great extent, as agreed upon by everyone. It
is true that the franchisee system is definitely on the mind of every young
person, parents, and all.
The case of Nicholas
Pooran became a talking point, who at a
young age of 29 years retired from all forms of International Cricket to just
play for T20 leagues Worldwide. It was agreed to find out why such things are
happening and how this can be stopped to get the best players to play for the West Indies. It was categorically mentioned that if India, Australia, & England, and
the Countries benefit from wholeheartedness from their players, the passion
they have to play for their Country, the pride to represent their nation, that
needs to be brought back to West Indies Cricket was the ultimate point that was
highlighted.
The T20 league all over
the World, be it IPL or MLC, is a living example of the motivational factor
that every youngster may be looking at for their growth, both financially and
also reputation-wise. CWI, during their meeting, also appreciated “that the
motivational factors we have to tap into: what motivates youngsters today? It
might not be representing West Indies 365 days of the year; it may be IPL or
BBL, or MCL, or any other league, and we have to find out the interests and see
where West Indies cricket can still benefit youngsters.
Brian Lara added that West Indies Cricket is still very important in the minds of all youngsters looking to pursue cricket as a career. Lara described the achievements in various decades and the motivation that led them to play for their homeland. He added, “In the 50s and early part of 60s, we were thinking about Independence- we can show our colonizers that we can play Cricket, we can govern ourselves. In the 70s and 80s, I believe that under Sir Clive Lloyd, it was all about trying to be the best in the World after learning from previous decades.
Clive Lloyd made a very valid observation, which is the crux of the problem, and also hints towards a challenge and solution :
"People must realize that T20 is an exhibition and Test Cricket is an examination.
When you are getting offered the type of money that these players are being offered, there is only one way they will go. It is a lot of money. We have to teach them the right things, and hope that our Cricket will still be in shape.”
The Current rankings of the West Indies are not at all encouraging :
Test: 8th
ODI: 9th
T20 : 6th
Curtly Ambrose & Vivian Richards on West Indies Cricket
However, with all steps being taken, West Indies Cricket will definitely come back and be in the top bracket in all forms of the game. We need to wait for the process to roll on and the results to be delivered.
Firstly,, kudos to you,, Babu for a well thoughtful compilation of Brazilian football & WI cricket both very close to our heart,, as far as Brazil is concerned one extremely good decision was to appoint Ancelotti as the head coach,, not only he's very successful at the club level but also astute strategist but the major problem is their creativity in the midfield & with Neymar's possible exit after his latest injury Carlo has hands full & as off now they don't have that talent to take Neymar's place though I will still believe that Carlo can devise some way out,, though very difficult // now WI cricket,, firstly am not an expert but if you add too heavyweights in the committee the result always is not positive,, secondly somewhere I had read that Sammy & Adams didn't like these great people coming in so cohesiveness can be a problem,, then the corrupt WI Board & T20 money, whatever Clive says one needs money,, the most important aspect is how the Board + Players committee + heavyweights + WI coaches gel in the future & that will determine WI resurgence.
ReplyDeleteExcellent observation. Nicely articulated and above all putting forth the reality.
DeleteNoted & many thanks Babu,,, doing a great job out of passion which desires lot of time,, study & the nitty gritty,, it proves why you had reached a Corporate high of CGM at Indian Oil,, bhalo theko.
Delete🙏🙏
DeleteVery articulated blog. Enriched myself which was not known in so detail about West Indies cricket. This country has produced so many talented cricketers. One of the best captaincy, I had seen in Clive Lioyd. Those who will be always remembered with deep respect are Sobers, Vivian Richards, Kalicharan, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Salcombe Marshall, Brian Lara.......and so many. Their contributions to World Cricket are unforgettable.
ReplyDeleteYou have very rightly said, T20 is an Exhibition and Test match is an examination
Very well said on the past legacy and the current spoiler T20.
DeleteKeep it up
ReplyDeleteVery well said on the past legacy and the current spoiler T20.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDelete