"We probably took a lot of things for granted"- former Windies great Richie Richardson reveals what led to West Indies cricket's decline

Former West Indies great Richie Richardson on Saturday revealed why the West Indies cricket lost its sheen and went into a downward spiral after Richardson left the captaincy.

In an exclusive live chat with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda's Facebook page, the former right-handed swashbuckling batsman opined that the West Indies team didn't put enough effort to preserve their brand of cricket.

"It's a combination of things, in my opinion, I don't think anyone can be in control forever and we had a really good run and perhaps we didn't do enough to preserve our cricket," said Richie Richardson.

Elucidating his point further, Richie Richardson remarked that West Indies took a lot of things for granted and it ultimately became the cause of Windies' undoing.

"We probably took a lot of things for granted and believed that we will continue to turn up and beat the rest of the world." added Richie Richardson.

Richie Richardson, famous for donning a wide-brimmed maroon hat in his playing days while facing the gun pace bowlers of his time, iterated that the rest of the world started strategizing to beat West Indies.

"The rest of the world was doing a lot more to improve their game. They were strategizing as to how to beat us, how to get the better of us," remarked Richie Richardson

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Players not to be blamed: Richie Ricahrdson

Richie Richardson further explained that the West Indies cricket setup did not create a good system to really propel or preserve the game in the country and it ultimately went down hill in a lot of areas.

Although Richie Richardosn refrained from blaming the players and called out the system.

"It's very easy to blame the players. But they are the product of a system and if your system is not right then players are going to show how good your system is. So a lot of things contributed to how our cricket was not strong as it used to be." said Richie Richardson.

One of the most successful and stylish West Indian batsmen during the late eighties and the early nineties, Richie Richardson played 86 Tests whilst amassing 5,949 runs at an impressive average of 44.39 with 16 hundreds.

Richie Richardson also went on to play 224 ODIs and scored 6,248 runs at an average of 33.41 with 5 centuries and 44 half-centuries to his name.

Happy birthday to former @windiescricket captain Richie Richardson!Richardson enjoyed an immensely successful international career, scoring 5,949 Test runs at a more than healthy average of 44.39. pic.twitter.com/M6AlxNf3yH

— ICC (@ICC) January 12, 2019