Those Were The Days…….

There was a time during the 70’s and 80’s when even the best batsmen were found to be practicing in the nets in order to face the fiery spells of the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and others. The story is entirely different now. 

During my teenage years, I used to be glued to the TV sets, watching cricket matches live even it would be involving teams that were not even miles connected to me. I was an ardent cricket fan and had an instinctive desire to play for my national team in the World Cup. Sadly, that never happened.Yet I am happy we are World Champions after a long wait of 28 years.

But we aren't here to talk about my dreams and aspirations about my future, but about a team that had a glorious past, but now is considered a near minnow at present. The team that sounds much like India and has featured  cricketers of Indian origin. The team plays for a group of islands that are near to the Caribbean Sea. The team has won the World Cup twice in 1975 and 1979 under the charismatic leadership of Clive Lloyd.

West Indies. The team that was considered unbeatable by virtue of its superb batting and fiery bowling by speedsters now does not show a glimpse of the glorious past. Winning a series in the Caribbean was a distant dream and the captains wished to win in order to bring laurels to their teams. The unprepared pitches assisted the home teams fast bowlers a lot and the absence of protective gears unlike the present day used to make the batsmen at the mercy of the lanky pacemen. The bowlers used to enjoy sending down bouncers to the batsmen who only had a piece of willow to protect himself.  There was a time during the 70’s and 80’s when even the best batsmen were found to be practicing in the nets in order to face the fiery spells of the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and others. The story is entirely different now. West Indies have faltered in all aspects of the game and the frequent row between the players and the West Indies Cricket Board have caused a major hurdle in the development of infrastructure in Caribbean.

There have been numerous issues that have plagued West Indian cricket. The foremost reason is the lack of financial resources that has continued to hamper cricket here. It was expected that the World Cup 2007 would benefit the Board that is fighting a major financial crisis. Sadly, the World Cup was remembered more due to wrong reasons and it did more harm than good.  Secondly, the never ending  row between the Board and the cricketers that has become a common phenomenon nowadays. These two reasons have become a major hurdle in the development of cricket in West Indies.

However  if the Board and the cricketers want and strive to revive the Windies's fortunes in the international cricket arena , things can be changed. Or else, people will continue to narrate the stories of the past to the children about a struggling team that used to be unbeatable.