The great fall of Windies cricket

Every time the West Indies manage to save a Test or an ODI, cricket pundits are prone to talk about guts and determination. But when they fail miserably (as happens more often), there is talk of the days of glory in the 1980s and a lot of moaning about inadequate replacements for the stars of those years. The dependency on Brian Lara for runs has not disappeared. And whenever he fires, the rest of the team seems able to score. If he falls cheaply, more often than not the rest follow suit. In the 1970s and 1980s the West Indies were unbeatable. Their fast bowlers terrified opponents while their batsmen piled on the runs. Not any more. The calypso kings have lost their crown. Morale is low and players are under-performing. Cricket at grass roots level also appears to be suffering, with more youngsters attracted to the rich glitz of American basketball. India's easy victory over West Indies in the fourth and final Test once again highlighted the downfall that has occurred in the cricketing fortunes of the Caribbean players. The current West Indies team that one sees nowadays is only a pale shadow of the side that was led by Clive Lloyd and which had in its ranks players of the calibre of Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and others. But what one saw in the fourth Test at Sabina Park in Kingston was West Indies cricket at its nadir. The inability of the hosts to fight back, the lack of confidence and the spineless character of the batting especially even when facing spin was an unpleasant surprise for those who still remembered the sublime skills of Sobers, Richards, Lloyd, Greenidge and others who could flay any attack in the world on any kind of pitch. In 1970-71, India's best tour to date was also West Indies' fourth straight series defeat, and their second at home. The decisive Test was in Trinidad where Venkat took 9 for 149 in the match, eclipsing Jack Noreiga who returned 9 for 95 in India's first innings. Sobers was in supreme form with 597 runs at 74.62 while Charlie Davis, of Trinidad, playing one Test and two innings less, also totalled over 500 runs and finished at the top of the averages (132.25). But Sunil Gavaskar, who missed the first Test, amassed 774 runs at an average of 154.80. The West Indies' first tour victory in England came in 1950. That was where West Indies cricket came to maturity. The production line of wonderful talent started with the 3Ws: Clyde Walcott, Frank Worrell and Everton Weekes at the top of the order. Worrell's appointment as the side's first black captain came at a time when most top positions in Caribbean society were still filled by white people. He led the West Indies on their epic 1960-61 tour of Australia, which the visitors lost 2-1. At no other time did the cricket team reflect what was going on in Caribbean society as much as then. As the 3Ws' era came to a close, a new era had already begun - the era of Sir Garfield Sobers, the greatest all-rounder the world has seen. Sobers has a lasting impact on cricket in the Caribbean. His six sixes in one over playing for Nottinghamshire is now the stuff of legend, while his 365 against Pakistan was a Test record that stood for 36 years before fellow West Indian Brian Lara bettered it. Sobers' retirement in 1974 coincided with the dawn of West Indian cricket as the most potent force in the world. Under Lloyd, the Windies ruled Test cricket and won the first two limited-overs World Cups, in 1975 and '79. Their reign was built around by a four-pronged pace attack. Tall, fast bowlers like Joel Garner, Colin Croft, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding Andy Roberts, and later Curtley Ambrose and Courtney Walsh were feared by batsmen the world over. Add to that batsmen like Lloyd, Sir Viv Richards, Larry Gomes, Richie Richardson, Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge, and it is easy to see why the West Indies were head and shoulders above the rest for such a long time. Richards was greatest of them all, scoring over 8,000 Test runs and thrilling crowds with his combative style of batting. Carl Hooper, who captained the Windies in the 2003 World Cup, remembers the effect Richards had on the opposition. He said: "Viv had this aura, this dominating way when he was in the middle. You just sensed that as long as he was there, they looked a bit down and did not want to compete." A battery of fast bowlers struck fear into batsmen the world over Walsh was one of the last of the dominant era to retire, finishing with a record 519 Test wickets. Even at the best of times, West Indies cricket was dogged by competition between the islands to further their own cause within the West Indies Cricket Board. Fifteen years without a Test series defeat came to an end against Australia in 1995, and before the end of the decade a further 16 matches were lost. The decline in West Indies cricket is largely put down to complacency, particularly within the islands. One ray of light in the dark years has been the batting of Lara, who in 1994 scored 380 against England and a first-class record 501 for Warwickshire. His first term as captain was ignominious, but last year he returned to the post and is doing a good job at setting the record straight. Whether the team is winning or losing, the flamboyance and uninhibited style of West Indies cricket always shines through. courtesy:timesofindia