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“For ten long years,
We ruled the cricket world
Now the rule seems coming to an end…“
The lines from West Indian iconic singer David Rudder’s 1987 ‘Rally Round the West Indies’ song, which was later adopted as the team’s anthem 12 years later, perfectly encapsulates the crisis the cricket team is going through.
For the first time in cricket World Cup history, the team from the Caribbean will be missing in action. West Indies, the champions of the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979, and whose bowlers once sent a shiver down the spine of any batsman, is at its lowest ebb — ranked below teams like Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
From being world beaters, the West Indies team was defeated by minnows like Zimbabwe, The Netherlands and Scotland in the World Cup qualifiers to shatter their dreams.
Not seeing the famous maroon jersey and some calypso music on Indian grounds this year is definitely hard to digest not just for West Indian fans but cricket lovers, like me, as a whole.
How The Calypso Magic Started To Fade
But, it is not something shocking as the standards have been on decline over the years.
In fact, they have failed to reach the finals of the multi-nation tournament since Clive Lloyd’s men were defeated by the Kapil Dev-led Indian team in 1983. Since then, their best performance in ODI World Cups were in 2011 and 2015, where they finished as quarter-finalists.
While they won two T20 World Cup titles in 2012 and 2016, the team’s group stage exit from last year’s tournament signalled a complete collapse in all three formats of the game.
“Earlier a West Indies defeat used to hurt a lot but now it doesn’t that much as our standards have fallen over the years. But yes, a World Cup without the West Indies is quite unimaginable. We have no more depth to hit,” the legendary Gordon Greenidge told PTI earlier this year.
Stories heard from my grandfather of big, burly bowlers like Andy Roberts, Michael Holding (nicknamed ‘Whispering Death’), Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall breathing fire with the ball in hand and terrorising batsmen have eluded the current generation.
A team that had nine to 10 fast bowlers in the stable in the 1980s, intimidating batsmen with 150 kmph thunderbolts, now struggles to find three quality pacers in their line-up.
In the same breath, the West Indian batting also had the blend of grace and force that was witnessed in the stroke play of Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Vivian Richards, Gordon Greenidge and Brian Lara.
The numbers paint the full picture. Between 1975 and 1987, West Indies was the most feared cricket team in the world and won 74 per cent of the ODI matches it played. However, since 2000, they have won just 38 per cent of their games, as per a report by ESPNcricinfo.
So, What Led To The Decline Of The West Indies?
It’s not that the West Indies has failed to produce star players. Cricketers like Nicholas Pooran, who was picked up for a whopping Rs 16 crore at last year’s IPL auction, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Shimron Hetmeyer are some of the biggest names in T20 leagues. However, apart from Pooran, they rarely turn up for their national side.
A combination of factors like mushrooming franchise-based T20 leagues across the world that give better pay and the dire straits of the West Indian cricket economy are to blame.
Former West Indian cricketers have lamented the lack of money in terms of sponsorship as well as infrastructure at the grassroots level.
The tussle between the players and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) came out in the open in 2014 when the cricket team left their tour to India in the middle of the series over a payment dispute with the management.
“We are not what we were, right! Earlier, there used to be a lot of pride in playing for the West Indies. It was our motivation. Now, the young players are getting more attracted to T20 leagues. No blame on them as everyone looks around for security,” PTI quoted former cricketer Joel Garner as saying.
Last year, former West Indies captain Darren Sammy laid bare the truth. While speaking on the financial woes of West Indian cricket, Sammy said while top Indian stars earn around Rs 7 crore a year, West Indies cricketers bag just Rs 1.2 crore through central contracts.
“Gone are those days when you played for love. Love doesn’t buy you groceries from supermarket,” Sammy had said.
Thus, today, players like Russell and Narine can earn much more by playing T20 competitions around the world than by plying their trade for the West Indies.
Also, a majority of players do not come from economically privileged backgrounds and it’s not unreasonable that they opt for lucrative T20 leagues, with franchises now mulling the option of year-round deals just like football.
As the cricket World Cup kicks off, somewhere in my subconscious mind the chorus of the West Indian team’s anthem rings out loud:
“Rally…rally round the West Indies
Never say never
Pretty soon the runs are gonna flow again like water
Bringing so much joy to each and every son and daughter….”
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