West Indies Cricket Has Reached A New Low As Routine Failure Continues

In the first Test against India at Ahmedabad, the West Indies lasted 90 overs with the bat, the equivalent of a full day’s play. The only problem is that they lost 20 wickets in that time frame. The innings defeat last week was the latest annihilation after a torrid home series against the Australians in the summer.

Australia bowled out the West Indies in under 15 overs at Sabina Park in July. It wasn’t a T20 international, but the third Test of a series in which the Caribbean side were competitive with the ball but chronically incompetent with the bat. Test matches rarely last five days, although the England and India series was a superb exception – but the Windies get skittled in all formats now. They’ve just lost a three-day T20 series against Nepal.

That innings total of 27 all-out was the second-lowest in Test history. It prompted an emergency meeting, inviting the West Indian greats of the past, including Brian Lara, Viv Richards, and Clive Lloyd, to try and change the course of this listing ship heading for the rocks.

Cricket West Indies president Kishore Shallow called on the big guns of the ‘80s and ’90s to oversee the current shambles in a two-day summit at Trinidad. The panel settled on combining short-term actions, such as recruiting an international batting coach and appointing a full-time sports psychologist, with long-term aims, including a unified national cricket development framework, standardized academies, and a call for a fairer ICC revenue share.

Even when Lara was around at the start of the Millennium, the West Indies were prone to the craziest collapses. The unforgettable two-day Test at Headingley saw them bundled out for 61 as they lost their grip as a power in the red-ball game. Between 1980 and 1995, the Windies didn’t lose a single Test series, an extraordinary statistic even if it was a superpower team full of majestic, nuggety batsmen and a never-ending battery of pace bowlers.

There’s no Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Alvin Kalicharran or Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Even former skipper Kraigg Brathwaite has been dropped after compiling 100 Test appearances. It’s centuries on the pitch that are needed. The Men in Maroon have only scored 14 in the last 43 Tests.

Now the lure of franchise cricket offers players riches that Sir Clive’s Invincibles could only dream of. Pride in playing for the country is set against the allure of the quick buck and buckle-up ride of the IPL and global partners. The CWI has experienced notorious financial difficulties, and current coach Daren Sammy’s impossible task is to try to create a mix of players who can give coherent performances on the global stage.

“For me, as a coach, when I call a player and tell him that he’s been selected for the West Indies, and I’m hoping that he accepts the selection, you know that tells us where our cricket is,” said Sammy before the second Test at Delhi began on Friday.

Cricketers follow the dollar, and the CWI don’t have a money tree to shake. Jason Holder is a serious Test match all-rounder, but hasn’t played the format for over a year. “A lot of our issues stem from the system. We need more accountability at every level, better development programs, and standards that are enforced,” the all-rounder told the Times of India website last month.

The team simply cannot afford to lose a player of Holder’s stature. In recent times, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell have stepped away from their country, as did one of the world’s best T20 hitters, Nicholas Pooran, who is now content on globetrotting his way to a tidy sum.

The challenge for the squad is to rise above the constraints, lack of facilities, and experience to try and “outwork the opposition” as Sammy said. There have been glimpses of what West Indian unity can achieve. Alick Atahanaze and Kavem Hodge’s fighting stand against England at Trent Bridge last year felt like a throwback to the golden age of grit and dazzle. It was a fleeting moment in another series that got away too easily.

Sammy recently bemoaned the Test averages of his batting line-up. The regional structure just doesn’t produce the class and cojones needed for the big step up to Test cricket.

Athanaze has been called the most talented West Indian batsman by Lara, but averages 25 in Tests, as does skipper Roston Chase. Opener John Campbell and Shai Hope average 24. The constant shifting of sands in the batting order just adds to the desperate search for someone, anyone, who can hang around at the crease and go big. Tagenarine Chanderpaul, son of Shivnarine, started his Test career with a bang, but has a top score of 36 in his last 15 innings. Even good bloodlines don’t guarantee success.

That wonderful win in Brisbane in January 2024 came with the stamp of another potential superstar in Shamar Joseph, although the 26-year-old was ruled out of this tour with an unspecified injury. There’s no magic in the ranks right now, just mediocrity. Jayden Seales is an honorable exception.

One look at the West Indian lineup begs the question about where the runs are going to come from. Chase’s team are being chastened as the hard work starts to find the talent and give it the excellence to flourish.