{"id":181805,"date":"2025-10-01T05:35:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T05:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/181805\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T05:35:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T05:35:17","slug":"the-sad-decline-of-west-indian-test-cricket-we-seem-to-have-given-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/181805\/","title":{"rendered":"The sad decline of West Indian Test cricket: \u2018We seem to have given up\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The godfather of modern West Indian fast bowling shakes his head slowly, having been reminded what happened the last time his once proud and near-invincible team played Test cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurt,\u201d says the great Andy Roberts of West Indies\u2019 humiliation in being bowled out for just 27<\/a> by Australia in Jamaica in July. \u201cI knew we were at a pretty low ebb but I didn\u2019t believe we could get any lower, and then that happened. Now I think we\u2019ve reached the bottom of the pit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWest Indies used to be the envy of the world but we expected our dominance to last forever and stopped doing what we were so good at. Now we seem to have given up.\u201d<\/p>\n

His words are echoed by a man who goes back even further than the 74-year-old Roberts in commentator Joseph \u2018Reds\u2019 Perreira, who has seen it all in more than 60 years as an eloquent voice of Caribbean cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so embarrassed,\u201d says Perreira, still commentating and writing on the Caribbean game at 86. \u201cI mean, 27 all out? That hurt West Indians down to their toes. Our game is at its lowest ebb since we really started to emerge in 1948, when we beat England in the Caribbean. I fear for the future of our game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Brandon King is bowled out during West Indies\u2019 capitulation in Jamaica (Randy Brooks\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The pain of that final Test, completing a 3-0 series defeat, at the former fortress of Sabina Park provides the backdrop to West Indies\u2019 latest attempt at regaining some of their old glory when they begin the first of two Tests against India in Ahmedabad on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Their task could not be more daunting. Where once West Indies dominated the world game, going unbeaten in Test series for 15 glorious years between 1980 and 1995, now they are the cash-strapped minnows up against the financial might of all-powerful India<\/a>.<\/p>\n

West Indies take on India without a Test series victory in two and a half years and having won only 23 of the 87 series they have played since the beginning of their fall in 2000; 15 of those came against fellow minnows in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

To compound the misery, their white-ball team \u2014 the limited-overs form of the game is still relatively healthy in the Caribbean \u2014 lost two Twenty20 internationals to Nepal in the United Arab Emirates this week, while the Test side has suffered a double blow before taking on India in losing key fast bowlers Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph to injury.<\/p>\n

The Athletic spoke to former players, administrators and commentators all steeped in Caribbean cricket to discover their views on the problems plaguing West Indies and to try to find hope where, as it stands, seemingly none exists.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Jimmy Adams pulls England\u2019s Darren Gough for four in the summer of 2000 (Michael Steele\/Allsport)<\/p>\n

Jimmy Adams has captained West Indies and been their director of cricket, and is one of the most intelligent and articulate figures in the game. He poses a question that will make all who love the sport shudder.<\/p>\n

Should West Indies even exist in the modern cricketing world?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing to decide is whether there\u2019s any purpose in continuing as West Indies,\u201d Adams says. \u201cWhat is West Indies cricket? You have this entity that is trying to pull 15 nations in one direction and you have to ask: is it still real? Is it still something that the region wants? It\u2019s the fundamental philosophical question.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t pretend to know the answer but it has to be addressed before you get to the problems with bat and ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cTimes change. West Indies were great when we were coming out of a post-colonial era. The late 1960s and the 1970s was this period where a lot of countries gained independence and that was a huge motivational force.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question always was: when we come out of this era, what\u2019s going to keep us together? I\u2019m not sure the region has found an answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Caribbean has never found anything as strong as the feeling it had when people were fighting for and eventually coming out of colonialism and telling the world: \u2018We\u2019re as good as you.\u2019 It hasn\u2019t found a force as powerful as cricket was in the \u201960s, \u201970s and \u201980s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spent some time at associate level and I saw Jersey come within a whisker of qualifying for the T20 World Cup. Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago or Guyana could easily do the same. I could see us playing white-ball cricket as individual nations and then start really tapping into governments for support at a level which is never given for West Indies because there is no West Indies. What we have now just isn\u2019t working.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n The mighty Viv Richards, who personified West Indian cricketing dominance, smashing England around the park in 1984 (S&G\/PA Images via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It could be argued what West Indies had was working during the year, in 2022, that Roland Butcher and ex-Test match opener Desmond Haynes were selectors and they won 51 per cent of all games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on the right path but it was taken away from us,\u201d former England and Middlesex batter Butcher tells The Athletic. \u201cWest Indies, in their wisdom, wanted to move towards an all-powerful supremo and one man being the coach of all three formats and the only selector. That\u2019s the way they went but the results have been quite disastrous.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely frustrating. (Former player turned coach) Daren Sammy has been put in an impossible position \u2014 to be coach of three teams with overlapping series. It will be hard for the players to trust him. As a coach, you\u2019re supposed to be the player\u2019s friend and his father figure. If he has a problem, he discusses it with you and you put a plan together to get it right. But if he\u2019s a selector as well, there\u2019s no way a player will go to him and tell him he\u2019s struggling. It could affect his place in the team. The bottom line is that it won\u2019t benefit West Indies cricket. It\u2019s a mess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butcher is also critical of the player pathway structure in the Caribbean and cites the experience of one of the many who have got away from West Indies cricket, Barbados-born Jacob Bethell<\/a>, as an example of why their system is not working.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Jacob had stayed, I doubt he\u2019d be playing for Barbados now, let alone the West Indies,\u201d insists Butcher. \u201cHe definitely took the right path in going to England.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was chairman of the centre of excellence in Barbados when Jacob was a boy and you could see he was very talented. But if he\u2019d stuck around, he would have been 27 or 28 before he got through. There\u2019s nowhere for the best players to go after under-19 level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man with the thankless task of sorting out the mess that is Caribbean cricket is experienced Jamaican administrator Chris Dehring, who returned to Cricket West Indies as chief executive officer in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew exactly what I was getting into,\u201d Dehring tells The Athletic. \u201cI was no stranger to this and under no illusions of the size of the challenge. I just figured: \u2018Look, we are at the cliff\u2019s edge and I\u2019m not going to let something I know is close to the heart of every Caribbean person fall over that cliff without giving it a huge effort.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft and Joel Garner \u2013 one line-up of West Indies\u2019 fearsome battery of fast bowlers in the 1980s (Adrian Murrell\/Allsport\/Getty Images\/Hulton Archive)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that the structure of Test cricket has almost conspired to weaken what was a very proud cricketing nation. But we have to do what we have to do and re-engineer our resources so we can be competitive again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re faced with something that\u2019s beyond our control because of the size and structure of our region. We\u2019re up against it, given the financial model that underpins world cricket, with home countries keeping 100 per cent of their revenue. When India, England and Australia keep 100 per cent of their revenues compared to what West Indies keep, you\u2019re talking about billions of dollars coming in compared almost to a couple of dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the interest and love for the game is still there. I left Sabina Park the afternoon we got bowled out for 27. Everyone was saying the decline was terminal. The ground was virtually empty that day but I was on my way to Singapore for an ICC meeting and, when I got to the airport, the porters all shouted out to me: \u2018What is happening, Mr Dehring?\u2019, because they were distraught.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to the counter and the guy checking me in made a comment about it. Then everyone in the security area were shouting at me: \u2018Boy, what are you going to do about that team?\u2019 I went into the lounge and a lady there asked me about it as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought to myself: \u2018The only thing that could be worse after being bowled out for 27 is if I\u2019d walked through that airport and nobody said anything to me.\u2019 What it told me was that people cared.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n West Indies\u2019 head coach Daren Sammy is confronting an unenviable task (Philip Brown\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Perreira agrees that the financial imbalance in the game is crippling West Indies. \u201cIt all comes back to the question of the sharing of the cake,\u201d the commentator tells The Athletic. \u201cWe are getting a tiny amount of the game\u2019s finances compared to India, Australia and England.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were badly treated by the ECB in 2020. When Covid was killing the world, the West Indies sent a team to England and they risked life and limb by being there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt restarted world cricket and saved the game millions, because Pakistan and Australia then went over to play, too. But what did we get from that? England just agreed to play an extra Test in Grenada in 2022. That\u2019s all. And we saved world cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts, who paved the way for fast bowling greats such as Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Colin Croft and so many more, believes the magic of putting on the maroon cap has been lost to the younger generation of West Indian players.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had so much pride in playing for West Indies,\u201d he says. \u201cOh yes. But I\u2019m not sure that pride is there now. The love of money is there but I\u2019m not sure the love of West Indies cricket is still there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last 10 or 15 years, there have been so many who want to play franchise cricket more than playing for West Indies. And when they start fading in franchise cricket and can\u2019t earn so much money, they try to come back and play for West Indies!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Andy Roberts bowling against England at Lord\u2019s in 1980 (Adrian Murrell\/Allsport)<\/p>\n

But all those experts spoken to by The Athletic insist there is still considerable cricketing talent in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we still have the raw material to become competitive again,\u201d says Jamaican Adams, 57. \u201cWe probably have more kids playing cricket than New Zealand do. I honestly believe the passion is there, it\u2019s just the people want to identify with winners, so it might be dormant if the team isn\u2019t doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dehring\u2019s predecessor as Cricket West Indies CEO was Englishman Johnny Grave, who has moved on to work in growing the game in the United States. He thinks that modern Caribbean talent can be underestimated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve still got a great bowling attack that\u2019s young and exciting,\u201d says Grave. \u201cSo while the 27 all out took all the headlines, they did bowl Australia out pretty cheaply in that match, and took 60 wickets in the series. If Jayden Seales was playing for England, everyone would be shouting from the rooftops about how good he is. So bowling sides out isn\u2019t a problem. The problem is batting and getting runs on the board when they\u2019ve got raw Test batsmen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think West Indies is still such a great brand for cricket and adds such a great deal to the world. The way they play probably led to the creation of T20 and they\u2019ve still got some flamboyant, entertaining players. But at the same time, it\u2019s difficult when you have the legacy of the legends who just went decades winning so many series. Even trying to replicate that is always hard, and they will always be compared to those days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n West Indian fast bowler Jayden Seales demonstrated his quality even in that 3-0 series defeat to Australia (Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Those legends, though, are still trying to help.<\/p>\n

After the infamous 27 all out, the second-lowest score in Test history, Cricket West Indies president Dr Kishore Shallow called an emergency meeting and invited the likes of Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to have their say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mood was very constructive in that meeting,\u201d adds Dehring. \u201cThe legacy these guys have and the love for West Indies cricket they have means they were very keen to protect the game. Brian, Viv and Richie Richardson are all coming with us to India to meet broadcasters and corporate sponsors on our behalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how much they\u2019re committed to helping us resuscitate West Indies cricket. We\u2019re taking a team of them and having a corporate golf day and inviting all the big Indian sponsors, and a Caribbean evening with the players, just to explain what cricket means to us.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s face it, we had no business beating the world like we did many years ago and dominating cricket. Not from this tiny part of the world. These tiny islands. How does Antigua, with 100,000 people, produce Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, Curtly Ambrose, Richie Richardson and lots more? How does Jamaica produce Michael Holding, Courtney Walsh, Lawrence Rowe and lots more? How does tiny Barbados produce all these amazing cricketers?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a blessing for West Indies cricket to have produced all these legends \u2014 it\u2019s a blessing for world cricket. Let\u2019s all remember that and make a concerted effort to help with the revival. To write us off would be a big mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to read more cricket stories on\u00a0The Athletic, or follow Cricket on\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0app via the Discover tab.<\/p>\n

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