Buck up Windies!

Looking at the indifferent performances of the West Indies cricket team in recent times, their better days seem long lost in the pages of history.

Sir Garfield Sobers, Gordon Greenidge, Clive Llyod, Malcolm Marshall, Sir Viv Richards and Courtney Walsh are some of the best names from the world of cricket that once hailed from the Caribbean. The West Indies team was one of the strongest in both test and one-day international cricket from the mid 70’s to early 90’s. Those were the days of glory when the Windies won two consecutive ICC World Cups in 1975 and 1979 respectively.

With the coming of The Hon Brian Lara, the team looked to rise to new heights. Spectators witnessed some of the most remarkable performances by Lara that found him a place among the greatest of the game. Gradually, with the passage of time, the level of West Indian cricket started to degrade. And it is extremely sad for a West Indies cricket fan to watch the team go down which was once filled with legendary cricketers and prestigious credentials to their name.

west indies: playing for pride

Given the team’s recent form, one wonders then what went wrong with the team and its players. The talent is plenty; we’ve seen how destructive Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard can be when they start to fire. Players like Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan are important assets to the team, they have tremendous potential. For once we can ignore the senior players since they have been around for quite a while now. But when it comes to the young brigade, this is where the problem lies. Despite being given the opportunity to shine for their team, these young players have often failed to deliver their best. The quality of cricket that they play has diminished and the attitude of the players towards the game has also changed significantly. Recently, there have been discipline issues too; with Suleiman Benn being sent off the field for disobeying the captain’s instructions, in the ongoing Digicel Series against the Proteas. This incident ultimately resulted in embarrassment to the team and the officials.

West Indies’ poor run of form continues in front of their home crowd in the current Digicel Series against South Africa. Captain Gayle now needs to pull up his socks and shoulder more responsibility ahead of the test series. The Windies have to stick together as a unit and save their team from being whitewashed. If they win, it will be a great boost to the team’s morale and it might as well affect their performance in the test matches. The Proteas are a much stronger side and a win in the 5th ODI will mark a continuation of the three-year dominance they’ve enjoyed over their opponents. It will also be their second 5-0 victory in an ODI series in the Caribbean. SA skipper Grame Smith will be tempted to sweep away the Caribbean Calypso.

It will be interesting to watch the encounter between these two sides in the final one-day tonight and also the three-test series that lies ahead. Lets hope for some reversal of fortunes this time.