Who cares about a strong West Indies?

[Langeveldt]

I recently heard a spokesperson for the ECB explain how it was important for the game that cricket is strong in the Caribbean and was shocked at how the ECB actually pledge some sort of funding to the WICB in order to pull their cricket out of the situation it finds itself in. This is connected with the Stanford debacle and the T20's that England are inclined to play against the West Indies late this summer, which probably is no fault of either board but has to happen even though nobody wants them to.

Am I the only one who has a problem with the attitude that we need a strong West Indies team? The West Indies have gone from worldbeaters to a joke team in the space of twenty years, I see apathy in the Caribbean towards the game (from personal experience of a few visits). I see about five spectators when the world's number one team are playing test cricket, not to mention complete apathy of the likes of Chris Gayle and Keiron Pollard towards representing their team in a test match. (Before everyone springs to Gayle's defence, remember when he rocked up in England about a day and a half before the start of a test series?)

I don't want to see my ticket money go towards helping the game in the West Indies (if ECB money has to go abroad, why not to a more deserving board?). Look at the enthusiasm for cricket in Afghanistan for example. and how we are letting cricket go to waste in potentially strong countries like the Netherlands and Ireland.. It's not like Garner, Marshall and Holding slowed down a bit to give the rest of the world a chance during the West Indies' dominance in the 70's and 80's, so why should the rest of the world not revel in beating them now?

 

[silentstriker]

Every time a team becomes weak, people say 'cricket needs a strong x.' They said the same thing about England, now about Australia, and will say that about every team. I don't particularly buy into any of it.

 

[vcs]

Interesting thoughts and I agree with a lot of what you have to say. The WICB needs to resolve its internal disputes and issues with players before they can expect sympathy from others IMO.

I must say though, that I have been pleasantly surprised by the crowds this series, much better than I had anticipated. The WC 2007 was just a farce at times with the empty crowds.

 

[Langeveldt]

Are we watching the same series? Sabina Park has about 20 people inside.. Maybe they are all huddled somewhere I haven't seen

 

[Langeveldt]

Every time a team becomes weak, people say 'cricket needs a strong x.' They said the same thing about England, now about Australia, and will say that about every team. I don't particularly buy into any of it.

I'm not sure I've heard anyone say 'cricket needs a strong England'.. Everyone seemed to love it when the old colonial power was in the dumps during the 90's..

 

[salman85]

England's case is different.They were never as dominant as WI were 20 odd years ago.

To be honest,i would love it if WI return to their glory days.This is partly due to the fact that when i started watching cricket,they had already gone into decline (mid 1990s),and i never got the chance to see arguably the greatest side in the world in it's prime.The Caribbean flavor has been a big part of cricket for a very long time,and it's understandable that people would want to rescue cricket in that part of the world because of what they've given to the game.Having said that,i do think teams like Afghanistan and Ireland do require more support,but a large part of me also wishes to see WI cricket being rescued.

 

[shivfan]

I think it's a bit rich for the ECB spokesman to claim that the T20 match is being played to help the WIndies....

Rather, it's been done because a deal was done with Sky, when Stanford was around, and the ECB can't wriggle out of it. But it's easy to blame it on the WIndies....

As for a strong Windies, I'm not bothered one way or another any more. I get upset watching the Windies play cricket, and then I cheer myself up watching Caribbean athletes beating all comers at a Diamond League athletics meet!

 

[silentstriker]

I'm not sure I've heard anyone say 'cricket needs a strong England'.. Everyone seemed to love it when the old colonial power was in the dumps during the 90's..

I heard it all the time, especially in 2005 after the Ashes how important it was for World Cricket to have a competitive England.

 

[silentstriker]

Anyway, cricket doesn't particularly need a strong anything. As long as matches continue to be close and exciting, that's what matters most.

 

[Fusion]

When people say that “Cricket needs a strong x”, they don’t necessarily say it only because of some love or affinity for that particular nation (although I’m sure it plays a part), they say it for the betterment of the sport. I think it is important to see West Indies succeed, just as it’s important for England, Aus, Pakistan, and the rest of the “established” members to remain viable. Otherwise, apathy will set in (with more immediate effect in WI/Pak as compared to Eng/Aus of course) and the game will lose a generation of potentially great players because no one cares about the sport in that country. The fans and players would gravitate towards the popular sports like football. I think the ICC does not have a strategic vision for Cricket’s future. While it is great that they are trying to bring along new blood like Ireland, Afghanistan, and even China, it is tragic that they have seemingly ignored the state of the game in places like WI, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. That’s like taking one step forward and 10 steps back. They should be doing everything they can to promote and sustain the popularity of the game in places where there’s already a strong fan base before they lose that base forever. In theory, it should be easier to reach out to those fans as opposed to making new fans in countries that don’t already have a cricketing tradition. So to answer the OP, yes I think it’s great that the ECB are supporting the WICB. I find that to be very laudable and something I hope the other (rich) boards also emulate in their regions.

 

[Fusion]

Anyway, cricket doesn't particularly need a strong anything. As long as matches continue to be close and exciting, that's what matters most.

Sure, to the hard core fans that exist today. What happens when those fans are no longer around in say 50 years? Who follows cricket then? We've already seen that close, exciting matches do not result in big attendance/ratings in most of the world. That means people on CW are certainly watching, but the rest of the world increasingly is tuning out. You need to reach new fans and you can't do that when you let the sport die in various countries around the world.

 

[GIMH]

But it's easy to blame it on the WIndies....

No-one is blaming anything on anyone.

As for the rest, Fusion has nailed it

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Fusion is bang on.

I'd like Pakistan, WI and NZ to all improve and become competitive again but that is possibly wishful thinking seeing 7 or 8 good sides together at once competing hard to be the best.

 

[Howe_zat]

Quite. It's not a way of saying that a certain nation is specifically important, just that cricket doesn't have many competitive teams or nations with a fanbase - and we can't afford to lose any.

 

[vcs]

If we have 7-8 competing teams that are all at a similar level, people will complain that the quality of world cricket is mediocre. That's not to say I don't want it to happen, though.

 

[weeman27bob]

Obviously the West Indies can't always be as strong as they were in the prime, but there are undeniably issues with cricket there at the moment.

At some point, cricket becomes markedly decaying in the country. It's at that point I think money should go into the country's cricket, from wherever that may be, but only up to a point, because if nothing's changing then you're just wasting money really.

 

[BoyBrumby]

The Windies are unique in cricket, tbf. As nice as it would be to see a strong Pakistan, Zimbabwe or NZ, they all come from geographical areas with other strong test nations. WIndies are the only game in town in the Americas.

They're the mouse that roared; made up of a disparate collection of third world nations who come together for cricket and who ruled the world for a long time. Growing up in the 80s it seemed impossible England could even compete with these giants, far less win a test never mind series. It was only in retrospect looking back I realised how gloriously improbable their dominance was.

Cricket doesn't "need" a strong Windies, but it'd be bloody nice to have them.

 

[Jono]

We barely have enough strong teams as is right now.

We don't necessarily need a strong WI, but a WI who isn't absolutely pathetic would be nice. Same with Pakistan. We'd like NZ to win more test matches too.

For all the talk about how awesome test cricket is, there aren't enough decent quality outfits. I mean there aren't that many teams in the first place. It shouldn't be too much to ask for all (or at least most) of them to be good ffs.

 

[BoyBrumby]

We barely have enough strong teams as is right now.

Very true. Sri Lanka are ranked fourth and there's a mild but distinct feeling of dissatifaction that England only beat them 1-0. At no point did they ever seriously threaten to win a test.

With Oz in bits and SL having almost literally no bowlers I do think there could be a gap developing between the top three sides and the rest.

 

[Austerlitz]

Competitive WI is most welcome,just so long they don't become too strong.Coz then the pace may get a little hot.I would like better pitches too.