Will West Indies ever become as good as they were?

[salman85]

They set a very high standard back then,and easily lay a claim to having one of the best playing 11 during their heydays.They have become pretty woeful off late,and other than a few performances here and there,they hardly have anything noteworthy to speak of,especially at the Test Level.They do well in ODIs off and on,but even when they do well it seems to be a false dawn.

Virtually all teams,barring South Africa,have seen times where their current crop of players and their form just wasn't good enough.However,almost all these teams managed to have periods of dominance following the decline in fortunes too,minus New Zealand perhaps who seem to hover in that line between average and good at all times.The West Indies decline seems to be the longest.

Are WI's great days as a cricket team over for good? Or is there a chance that they could develop a world class team in the future again?

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Need to correct the thread title.

 

[steds]

No.

 

[Flem274*]

maybe

 

[salman85]

Need to correct the thread title.

Yes.The 'became' looks awful

Mods please correct it

 

[morgieb]

Unlikely.

 

[Red]

Possibly.


Greenidge
Haynes
Richardson
Gomes
Richards
Lloyd
Dujon
Marshall
Garner
Holding
Walsh

Wow!

 

[Coronis]

No.

 

[WindieWeathers]

We have a mountain to climb!!..at youth levels we've done well in recent times...our squad at the last u19 world cup beat Australia home and away and about four times in a row, beat India who went on to win the cup, beat pakistan and also sri-lanka etc!!. Our lads do well at that level but the problem is our domestic structure!!..right now our teams play less four day games per year than ALL of the other seven cricket nations in the top eight. It's disgraceful and us fans are pushing the board to act on that.

Looking forward if our structure is improved i have high hopes we can compete at a high standard again..our A-team hasn't lost a test series in several years...we beat India at home and drew with them away..drew with Sri-lanka and Pakistan etc!!..

We also have a batch of young players who will hopefully reach their full potential...

Bravo= 24
Brathwaite= 21
Powell= 23
Roach= 25
Holder= 22
Barath= 23
Narine= 25
Permaul= 24

Plus there's more under them like Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Jermain Blackwood, Ronsford Beaton amoungst others!!..also Chesney Hughes if he decides to commit to WI....we'll be decent again but it's gonna take time and determination from our board to fix the issues that exits currently.

 

[Dan]

I think the West Indies can climb to be a very, very good team over a number of years. Potentially even a great one (all the young players WW mentions have clear potential, and domestic structures can be fixed). However, I don't see them hitting the peaks of the 1970s and 80s side. Those guys were just too good to be matched any time soon.

 

[91Jmay]

If they can develop a couple of good spinners and batsmen used to the conditions then I could see them becoming strong at home, as it is quite alien conditions compared to most other countries.

 

[kyear2]

I think the West Indies can climb to be a very, very good team over a number of years. Potentially even a great one (all the young players WW mentions have clear potential, and domestic structures can be fixed). However, I don't see them hitting the peaks of the 1970s and 80s side. Those guys were just too good to be matched any time soon.

This.

We can be a great and even a dominating team again, but those teams from 76 - 91 were among one of the two greatest ever. Hard to imagine any team going forward being as good as them.

 

[Maximas]

They will never become one of the all time great sides again, just won't happen with the way domestic cricket there is and how weak the board is, but they could certainly become a very good team at home

 

[Athlai]

There is no chance they will be as great as they were. But I also see little chance of any team reaching those lofty peaks. That West Indian team was peerless, we now look with a few years distance at the Australian side of the early 2000s and I just don't see them as being as great a team as the West Indian side.

I doubt we'll ever see a side that great again (at least in our lifetimes). Truly the sort of side that only occurs once every 100 years.

 

[Bahnz]

Yeah, I can certainly see the West Indies becoming a top 4 side again with the right mix of domestic restructuring, WICB accountability, player professionalism and coaching. However, during 79-85 period, the Windies had in all probability the greatest team of all time. You can never say never but I would count the odds as vanishingly small especially given the growing prominence of T20 and other sports in the Caribbean.

 

[Flem274*]

The great Aussie side was their peer imo.

 

[Bahnz]

The great Aussie side was their peer imo.

WI definitely had the better bowling. Four bowlers who all average sub 25 is simply surreal in the post-war era. The batting is more evenly matched, though a team with Lloyd, Richards, Greenidge and Haynes is still close to the equal of the Waughs, Hayden, Ponting, Langer and Gilchrist. WI would shade it in most conditions imo.

 

[Flem274*]

Australia had the better balanced attack with Warne, and McGrath/Gillespie/Warne plus Lee of the early 2000s is good enough. The West Indies would beat them in the Carribean but Australia would return the favour on their own turf.

 

[Jono]

Balance schmalance.

Gilly is the main difference between the teams I reckon. Huge wildcard.

 

[The Battlers Prince]

Could just take a Border, Gavaskar, Murali, Loyd type person to generate a resurgence. I think Windies cricket has too much politics at the moment to be a real world beater but in the future I wouldn't say never.
This is an area of islands that has produced so many greats, can't back against them.