Mauled and humiliated: The rise of West Indies declinism in cricket

Perhaps, no cricket team in history is as revered as the West Indies side of the 1980s. From 1980 to 1995, the team did not lose a single Test series. The Caribbean cocktail of ferocious fast bowling and aggressive batting resonated far beyond the field. "I have 5m West Indians depending on me to perform at my best so they can walk the streets and be proud," Michael Holding once recalled in ‘Fire in Babylon', a story of Caribbean empowerment in the sport.

On July 1, West Indies cricket hit a new low. For the first time in 48 years, the side failed to qualify for the One-day International World Cup.

Statistics highlight how dramatic their decline has been. The West Indies have won 71 and lost only 20 Test matches against the other eight Test-playing nations (excluding Zimbabwe, which did not gain Test status until 1992) between March 1976 and March 1995. Since June 2000, the side has won 14 and lost 78 Tests against the same opponents. The fall has been almost as marked in ODI cricket, where the West Indies have won 72 games and lost 161 against the traditional top eight sides since June 2000. Only Twenty20 cricket has provided any solace: the West Indies won the World T20 in 2012 and have consistently played vibrant cricket in the format.

The moment the West Indies team think their cricket has at last bottomed out and must surely begin to rise again, the sunken vessel plummets deeper, revealing what everyone hoped was the ocean floor to be yet one more edge of yet another crevasse.

Having never held a cricket bat growing up in football-driven Kolkata, I, as a child, made the rational decision to embrace the maroon and pledge support to this team made up of various different nations, in a sport none of my friends had any interest in. Unfortunately, this was also the 90s, so I was witnessing the gradual decline of a once-great team, but I carried on supporting, from Chris Gayle to Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brian Lara to Shannon Gabriel. I followed on TV, scorecards, whatever the time of day, through the ups and downs, but more downs than ups.

Shannon Gabriel (L) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies walk from the field (Pic: AFP)

Now, I grieve as I watch the legacy of great men squandered - those valiant heroes of pitch and outfield whose heads were as cool and strategic as their hands were safe; whose direction with the ball was consistent and menacing; whose mastery with the willow saw record books rewritten time and again.

Gone are the days when the side would whitewash England, tyrannize Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India and New Zealand. Now it is the other way around, they have become the ‘minnows of world cricket', the whipping boys, so to speak. Or may I add even Zimbabwe, Bangladesh have been challenging for them to overcome.

It comes as no surprise that the side will not be part of the upcoming ODI World Cup after being eliminated from the Qualifiers. Coming into the do-or-die Super Six contest, West Indies, packed with some bona-fide T20 superstars, suffered an embarrassing seven-wicket defeat against Scotland after managing a modest 181 in 43.5 overs earlier this month.

Perhaps the performance is symptomatic of times which is very different from the 1970s when some of the world class cricketers from Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Antigua, Trinidad and Tobago came together and were the flag-bearers of 'Black Caribbean Community' which had been under oppression for the longest time.

The brilliant documentary 'Fire in Babylon' showed what West Indies cricket meant. It wasn't just flair, fun and frolic but also a responsibility towards community. It showed how the team came together after England captain Tony Greig commented before the 1976 series that he would make them 'grovel', a derogatory term used for 'Black Community' referring to slavery.

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Michael Holding spit fire at the Oval and Viv Richards scored a near triple hundred. Their brand of cricket helped them become world beaters in limited overs cricket, first 60 overs and then 50 overs as most of their top players played in county or league cricket in England.

But call it a sign of times, the fire has extinguished and in the last decade has seen the emergence of highly-skilled T20 mercenaries or Gun for Hire as one can refer to them, who haven't exactly been bothered about the national cricket team's benefit.

Perhaps the concept of multiple nations playing under one flag is flawed in today's day and age.

What has also adversely contributed is the riches that accompanies T20 cricket caravan wherever it sets its base. The leagues have made it virtually impossible to have a quality West Indies team that is proud of wearing the iconic maroon jersey.

Call it an irony: during the tournament in Zimbabwe, the man who donned the coach's hat was none other than last global trophy winning skipper Darren Sammy, whose heart still bleeds for the West Indies.

In the commentary box was Carlos Brathwaite, who hit those four incredible sixes on that fateful night in Kolkata, seven seasons back to win the 2016 T20 World Cup for the Caribbean side.

The Richards, the Lloyds, the Holdings, the Roberts, the Garners, their legacy lay in tatters, scattered across the lush green turf of Harare Sports Club ground on July 1. Kieron Pollards, Dwayne Bravos, Andre Russells, Sunil Narines have time and again refused to play for the West Indies as international cricket couldn't have secured a future that they aspired for their families. So West Indies cricket lived in a comatose state.

There was a time, back in Viv Richards' day, when a West Indies defeat of this magnitude meant something. Like any soccer World Cup without Brazil, or Wimbledon without at least one of the ‘Great Trio', West Indies losing at cricket altered the natural order of things. But, defeat (sometimes on a humiliating scale), over the years, has become commonplace.

Yet when they face India at Fort of Spain on Thursday for their historic 100th Test, not only will a strong shot at levelling the ongoing Test series be at stake, but something potentially bigger for West Indies - preventing themselves from hitting rock bottom twice in a month.

Barring debutant Alick Athanaze, none of the West Indies batters were comfortable against high quality spin and are likely to struggle if the ball turns as much as it did in Dominica. They might be better off with a pitch that aids fast bowling, bringing Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph in the game. That could be the only way they are able to put pressure on the Men in Blue.

Losing would mark a fresh stage in a long-term decline for the Caribbean Test side that, in the one-day game, dates from the final of the 1983 tournament. Over these four decades, the West Indies have transformed from the team India could not beat to the side their own fans do not want to see.

Then West Indies was trying to close out a hat trick of titles in the first three World Cups. But India, whose mere presence in the final was a considerable shock, soundly defeated West Indies to knock it off the top of the world. For India, it was the beginning of an enduring enthusiasm for the game's shorter formats that still runs strong. West Indies, by contrast, has never recaptured the power that saw it dominate those early World Cups, much as Australia has towered over the recent ones.

Given all that is stacked against, perhaps the wonder is not how far the West Indies has fallen, and more how it was able to ascend such heights in the first place. "Cricket has always been more than a game in Trinidad" - but, would VS Naipaul's assessment echo loud on Thursday?