Current crop of Windies players demonstrate the demise of Caribbean cricket

Bat and ball / Andrew Hughes / 22 January 2008 / Leave a Comment

Cricket-mad Andrew Hughes considers how many of the Windies' current players would have made it into the great team of the late 1970s

Selecting an all-time team is a game most sports fans play. But for cricket lovers in the Caribbean there is no need to cobble together players of different eras. They can point to two teams in their history, both of which could be considered the best of all time. For the older generation, there is the side of the fifties and sixties, of Walcott, Worrell and Weekes; of Sobers, Hall, Griffiths and Gibbs. But for most, it will be the group that from the late 1970s dominated the world game with dashing, dangerous, muscular cricket, first under Clive Lloyd and then Viv Richards.

There were no rankings in those days, but these were the undisputed world champions, oozing class in every department. Opening the batting, they had first Roy Fredericks, a dashing left handed opener, possibly the best hooker in the modern game, then Desmond Haynes, technically sound foil to the powerful, punishing, evergreen Gordon Greenidge. Their middle order was packed with stroke players. There was Viv Richards, the master blaster; Clive Lloyd, the bear who wielded a devastating bat and who's man management skills kept a disparate group of nationalities together, fighting for a common purpose; Alvin Kallicharran, elegant, perfectly balanced left-hander; Richie Richardson, a calm destroyer of bowling attacks and Larry Gomes, the solid presence in the middle order. And when the batsmen had smashed your bowlers to bits, came the punishment. Holding, Marshall, Roberts, Garner, Croft, Daniel. There was no let up in pace, hostility or guile. Everyone succumbed.

So how many of those currently wearing the maroon cap in South Africa would have broken into that side. It almost seems an impertinence to ask, but it is worth doing, if only to illustrate how far the West Indies have sunk.

The answer, of course, is none. Not one. To compare the current crop of bowlers with those feared predecessors is almost cruel. Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards and Daren Powell are all capable of bowling quickly. They are also capable of sending down over after over of rubbish. They are pygmies treading in the footsteps of giants. Spin bowling has already died out as an art form in the Caribbean and now the stream of fast bowling talent has dried up too.

Of the current batsmen, perhaps Chris Gayle or Shivnarine Chanderpaul could have come into momentary consideration in selection meetings, assuming a spate of injuries. Gayle has all the shots but his lack of discipline would have counted against him. The obdurate Chanderpaul might have generated some interest as a third or fourth replacement for Larry Gomes, though Gomes was elegantly orthodox whereas Chanderpaul bats like a crab wielding a piece of driftwood. But in truth, it is unlikely either would have got anywhere near the first team. And there are no young batsmen coming through to offer even the hope of a renaissance. Most players, brought up on Richards and Lloyd seem content to mimic the big hitting but show no inclination towards the application or dedication needed to emulate their heroes. Batting, like the other cricket arts is fading into obscurity like a dying language in a part of the world that was once so fluent.

Meanwhile, having won the First Test in Port Elizabeth, the West Indians have reverted to type and lost the last four matches in a row, in all formats. To arrest that trend in the second one day international on Thursday, they need to overcome the absence of captain Gayle, discover some middle-order backbone and somehow get some zest back into their weary fielding. All of this explains why they are currently [3.75] to level the series. South Africa's only concern is the poor form of their top order, but with plenty of batting depth, they have enough to get themselves out of trouble and have the more accurate bowlers. They are available at [1.34] to heap further indignity on the tired tourists. But before lumping on the home side, a note of caution. You might like to wait until the result of the toss is known. In 23 day night games at Newlands, 18 have been won by the side batting first.