Is there ANY hope of a West Indian test cricket resurgence?

[Boundary]

I love West Indian cricket, or I loved it at least. But the above question has been at the forefront of my cricketing thoughts for the best part of twenty years now.

Any time they threaten at all, in a series, in a match, in a bloody over, I kid myself into believing that the Windies are back. Two mornings ago, I watched them shade the opening session despite conceding over 120 runs, and I kept spilling tea from punching the air.

And then they did what they always do. Even allowing for a truly magnificent partnership.

Losing a plethora of wickets before putting a ton up must be some kind of newly formed Carribean custom.

The West Indies, the formers, beloved kings of the test arena, are nothing less than a cricketing tragedy. Can any West Indian tell me if they can ever compete at the highest level of test cricket again, or is this fool destined for a cricketing life of false dawns?

 

[Athlai]

Na, WICB have ****ed it up too much.

 

[morgieb]

When the WICB gets burnt to the ground and they actually hire competent admistrators that can rise about the squabbling and won't take ****, then we'll talk.

More seriously.....

The two main issues with the West Indies are (IMO):

1) Only Ramdin and Samuels offer genuine experience. And Samuels in particular doesn't strike me as a great leader. There's no-one to rally around, no-one to give Holder guidence whereas a couple of years ago you had Chanderpaul at least.
2) No out and out superstars. The West Indies of the 2000's probably had worse depth but at least they had the likes of Lara and Chanderpaul. Now though.....

Oversimplifed but that's part of the cause as you said.

IMO Johnson should replace Chandrika, Dowrich for Ramdin and Brathwaite for Gabriel. Other than that though they've pretty much got their Best XI....

 

[Prince EWS]

Those really aren't anywhere close to being the two main issues with the West Indies tbh.

 

[viriya]

no.

 

[watson]

It's a classic case of the rich get richer while the poor get poorer;

Still, the root cause of its woes is economic. The amount of money earned by the the big cricketing nations, such as India, England and Australia, has exploded over the past two decades, on the back of lucrative TV contracts and sponsorship. The West Indies have not been able to keep up. It might get worse. After the abandoned tour of India last year, the Board of Control for Cricket in India claimed the WICB owed it $42m. It remains unclear whether India will tour the Caribbean in the future, which could cost West Indies cricket even more in lost television rights. Worse, the way the International Cricket Council (ICC), the game’s governing body, distributes money is about to change. Australia and England will receive over $150m each over the next eight years; India over $500m. The WICB, meanwhile, will receive around $80m. Some calculate that is $43m less than they would have expected under the current system.

Dire in Babylon: The sad decline of West Indies cricket | The Economist

 

[Flametree]

Short answer, no. Pretty soon the invites from Australia and England will dry up and they'll be playing Banglesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe if they can be bothered. I guess the WICB will continue to get paid only as long as they keep playing, so I guess they won't completely disappear as there is motivation to keep going.

 

[Daemon]

The WICB, meanwhile, will receive around $80m. Some calculate that is $43m less than they would have expected under the current system.

Some also calculate that is $80m more than what they deserve

 

[Daemon]

I think we're witnessing the emergence of a T20 specialist country ftr

 

[fredfertang]

They're ****ed - what might have saved them in the last few years was if a great player was to emerge, and given the number they have produced in the past one is bound to appear soon, but that won't do them any good now as they won't be able to pay him enough to keep him available for Tests, so he'll pay T20, and that won't be in the Caribbean, so he won't fire the kids' enthusiasm in the same way he would if he won them a few Tests

ftr I think it's an absolute tragedy - cricket may not need the West Indies, but it has been a much more interesting sport when they have had a competitive side

 

[OverratedSanity]

It's a classic case of the rich get richer while the poor get poorer;

Nah, they're just a pathetically run board. Even if they had more money they'd **** everything up anyway.

Lol'd at Dire in Babylon though.

 

[Gnske]

I wonder what a WI second XI would look like right now made up of players not in the current XI and who aren't blacklisted/disappeared/cbf playing.

Its dead and it isn't getting back up

 

[Flem274*]

Might be worth splitting them up back into individual countries. I remember one player saying T&T first, IPL team second, windies third a few years ago.

Says a lot, and a few of those islands have superb ATG sides. Might be the way to save them.

 

[G.I.Joe]

IMO the West Indies need to merge with the USA for there to be any hope. Best case scenario - in the long run we get a good USA team with a possible resurgence of the Windies and the potential to split them up later if needed. Worst case scenario - both the USA and WI remain crappy teams.

 

[Pratters]

Sinking ship comes to mind when I think of Windies cricket.

 

[Gob]

short answer no
long answer nah

 

[watson]

The Frank Worrell Trophy has been contested since 1960. So far Australia lead the West Indies 13-8 with 2 drawn series.

But since the West Indies are unlikely to win the trophy back for multiple decades, if ever, is there any point in contesting the Trophy? Especially as it's now difficult to justify a 3 Test series.

There is also the fact that we have reached the point where the name and reputation of Frank Worrell is being disgraced. I'd rather not have this happen and just have one-off Australia v WI Test matches with no mention of the great mans name. Only when the West Indies are a proven force again should Frank Worrell be evoked.

Let's leave the score at a respectable 14-8 and keep the wonderful history as it is.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

IMO the West Indies need to merge with the USA for there to be any hope. Best case scenario - in the long run we get a good USA team with a possible resurgence of the Windies and the potential to split them up later if needed. Worst case scenario - both the USA and WI remain crappy teams.

Problem: anyone who's tried their hand at administering cricket in the USA has been ten times worse than the WICB.

 

[Zinzan]

Given we've been speculating on this question for about 15 years now, I'd say no.

 

[mr_mister]

yes, eventually it will happen. why wouldnt it? might not even be in our lifetimes but it'l happen one day