From winning World Cups to losing qualifiers, the decline of West Indies cricket is a sad story in the Caribbean. By Ameet "Two views of Chris Gayle" by It's No Game is licensed under CC BY 2.0 . Sir Vivian Richards, Brian Lara, Chris Gayle. These are legendary names in cricket history and, apart from being brilliant players, they also have in common that they represented the West Indies (Windies) cricket team. The West Indies are a group of crescent-shaped islands situated in the Caribbean. They separate the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north. And once this isolated location in the middle of the ocean was the centre of global cricket. West Indies was one of the first teams to be part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) as they joined in 1928. They had a slow start, but after some time they eventually won two ODI world cups in a row and became a major force in the sport. One Day International (ODI) World Cups are held only once every four years and the Windies won two in a row in 1975 and 1979. And there was a time from the mid-late 1970s to the early 1990s when they were the best team in the world, leading the pack with an aggressive, vibrant style. The 2010 documentary Fire in Babylon explores their rise to the top of the game. Years later, the West Indies also won the T20 World Cup twice and the Champions Trophy once respectively, including a final over thriller in the 2016 T20 World Cup. After these T20 World Cup wins though, the West Indies have either finished at the bottom of the points table or not even qualified for World Cups. One main headline being that they didn’t qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup. The two main causes of this recent decline are: Poor management skills: The board for West Indies cricket does not seem to manage their team effectively. For example, the players didn’t play any ODIs before the 2023 ODI World Cup qualifier making them rusty, which meant that they could not perform to their fullest potential. A lack of stability: The board for West Indies cricket keeps on changing team selections, making the players and the staff frustrated as well as confused. This frustration causes players to experience a lack of concentration and form. This decline has really affected the quality of cricket that the Windies are playing as they don’t even win qualifiers anymore. However, they can turn their fortunes around as they are hosting the 2024 T20 World Cup on home soil along with the USA. This will be a great opportunity for them to get back to winning ways as they have home advantage. Let's see if they can bring back the heyday and light some more fires in the Carribean and worldwide. Works Cited: Indiagk.net. “West Indies Wins T20 World Cup 2016.” Indiagk.net, 4 Apr. 2016, www.indiagk.net/2016/04/west-indies-wins-t20-world-cup-2016.html. Accessed 2 May 2024. Sky Sports. “West Indies Fail to Qualify for World Cup for First Time after Scotland Humbling.” Sky Sports, 1 July 2023, www.skysports.com/cricket/news/12123/12912862/west-indies-fail-to-qualify-for-world-cup-for-first-time-after-scotland-humbling. Accessed 2 May 2024. Sportica. “The Downfall of West Indies Cricket.” Www.youtube.com, 27 Feb. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVaEGUm2cks. Accessed 2 May 2024. Wikipedia Contributors. “West Indies.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Jan. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Indies. Accessed 2 May 2024. ZeTo49. “On This Day in 1975 - This Invincible West Indies Side Lifted the Inaugural ODI World Cup, Beating Australia in the Final by 19 Runs.” Reddit, 21 June 2017, www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/comments/6im6y6/on_this_day_in_1975_this_invincible_west_indies/?rdt=45291. Accessed 2 May 2024.
2 Comments
Terry
9/5/2024 20:53:25
Wow, Ameet- your article made me care about what is going on in the cricket world- and it's not usually something I pay attention to. The movie Fire in Babylon looks interesting - I'll have to check that out! I enjoyed your well-written, informative article. Congratulations, Ameet!
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