Test Match Betting: Mission Impossible for the West Indies

Bat and ball / Andrew Hughes / 25 November 2009 /

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Chris Gayle talks to the press

"The crass decision of the WICB to sign up for a defence of the Wisden Trophy just weeks after the players had won the thing merely turned up the heat under a dispute that has been simmering for years."

Strikes, sackings and losing to Bangladesh; its been another turbulent year in the Caribbean. Ahead of the First Test in Brisbane, Andrew Hughes reports on the state of West Indies cricket

Hands up anyone who thinks the West Indies are going to win a Test match in Australia this winter? No, me neither. Their record is an appalling 3 wins from their last 39 Tests, they have played just one warm-up game down under (a backs-to-the wall draw against Queensland) and key players Ramnaresh Sarwan and Jerome Taylor are struggling with injuries. For what it's worth, wishful thinkers can have [13.0] about a West Indian victory in Thursday's First Test.

But will the West Indies even be playing Test cricket for much longer? Over the last few months, some of their players have given the impression that they aren't all that interested in the format. Fidel Edwards has regularly been available for duty with Deccan Chargers but injured for Test matches (and is currently without a national contract as a result). Captain Chris Gayle famously said that he wouldn't be so sad if Test cricket faded away. It appears that only the Guyanese stars like Shivanarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan still regard Test cricket as paramount.

But that impression is an unfair one. We shouldn't forget that the men in maroon put up a stirring fight on home turf this spring to regain the Wisden Trophy against England. Indeed it was only when they were pencilled in to replace Sri Lanka by touring England just a month or so later that the grumbling began. And that grumbling was not aimed so much at Test cricket or even their international obligations, but at the West Indies Cricket Board.

It was the latest flare-up of a long-running and utterly depressing row between the players and the board that, when you strip away the extraneous detail, essentially boiled down to money. The crass decision of the WICB to sign up for a defence of the Wisden Trophy just weeks after the players had won the thing merely turned up the heat under a dispute that has been simmering for years. It all came to a head two days before the First Test against Bangladesh when Gayle and his team downed tools. Humiliation followed against what had previously been considered the worst team in Test cricket.

Since then, thanks to the intervention of regional politicians, a fragile peace has been brokered. None feel much sympathy for the incompetent WICB but the spectacle of cricketers made wealthy by the IPL striking for more money and further damaging the proud reputation of a great cricket region was not an edifying one. Those money wrangles should now be resolved by the national contracts, worth $120,000 US per year that have been agreed for the top players. For his part, the reappointed Gayle has reaffirmed his commitment to the captaincy and there is a new manager, the legendary Joel Garner, a disciplinarian who has promised to crack the whip if necessary.

Cynics will say that we have heard a lot of this before and indeed, we have. This may just be one more rest stop on West Indies cricket's journey into oblivion. However, in the last few weeks, Caribbean cricket has come closer to the brink than ever and that it has pulled back offers some hope. For the first time, drastic measures such as a temporary withdrawal from Test cricket or the breaking up of the West Indies were being suggested in some quarters. Either would be a disaster.

The success of Trinidad and Tobago in the Champions League led some to suggest that the various islands might be better off on their own. But they would have to start at the bottom of international cricket and work their way back up to Test status. Who knows what would happen to island cricket in the meantime? Withdrawal from Test cricket would also render cricket in that region a second division sport and reduce advertising and television revenues at the very time when greater exposure and investment is required.

The best lesson to learn from the experience of Trinidad and Tobago is that sustained investment in development programmes (in this case, $14 million over three years) allied to the region's abundance of natural talent and a hard working team ethic can produce a successful Caribbean cricket team. Maybe.

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