Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, recently delivered the 22nd annual Frank Worrell Memorial Lecture in Bridgetown in the presence of several West Indies legends and members of the Indian squad, including head coach Rahul Dravid and chief selector Ajit Agarkar.
Mottley stressed on reinstating their past glory and renewing the focus on cricket’s role in uniting the Caribbean.
It is not surprising for teams to go through rough patches but for the West Indies, there seems to be no end to plunging to new depths.
Having barely managed to avert a 2-0 whitewash in the Test series, they were bowled out for 114 inside 23 overs in the opening ODI in Bridgetown on Thursday.
Only once have the West Indies been dismissed in fewer overs in the 50-over format — against Bangladesh in 2011.
The story wasn’t much different in the Test series too. In the first Test in Roseau, they survived 64.3 and 50.3 overs in their two innings respectively as India galloped to an innings victory.
The hosts showed slight improvement in the Port of Spain Test lasting 115.4 overs in the first innings before rain saved them from the ignominy of another defeat.
The West Indies’ fortunes seem to have taken a downhill since their golden days in the last century. While their performance has failed the consistency test, the lack of quality in the players showed.
However, the current generation can take some solace from the fact that the Brian Lara-led team of 1999 has the record of surviving the least number of overs in an innings — 19.1 overs against Australia in Port of Spain.
More recently, the lure of the franchise leagues has drained the best of talents from national representation in the Caribbean. With no clear roadmap, their cricket continues to suffer.
The 1975 and 1979 champions’ failure to make the ODI World Cup in India this year has been a telling commentary on their dismal showing.
Barring Kraigg Brathwaite, no West Indies batter has shown the tenacity or temperament to play a long innings in Test cricket. Their performance suffered as only Brathwaite managed to score a half-century in the Test series against India.
Shai Hope hasn’t been able to transform his successes at the limited-overs level into Test cricket. But Hope, the one-day captain, has at least shown the willingness to fight on despite little support at the other end.
While the likes of Rovman Powell and Shimron Hetmyer are much sought after in the T20 leagues, their lack of application and commitment while playing for the national team have been evident.
The Daren Sammy-led team won the 2016 T20 World Cup in India but the decline has been rapid since. They finished ninth out of 10 teams in the 2019 ODI World Cup in England and Wales.
The dwindling form of some of the seniors like Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo and Andre Russell contributed to the downslide as also some unreasonable selection strategies.
The absence of Jason Holder and Nicholas Pooran in the ongoing ODI series against India has also contributed to their meek surrender in the opener. It remains a mystery as to why such exciting talents like Pooran and Hope can’t transform this team into an intimidating unit.
No wonder the Barbadian Prime Minister had titled her lecture “Cricket lovely cricket, it is more than bat and ball.” She stressed that it was necessary to rally around the West Indies team and stop playing the fool when it comes to this great sport and institution.
There is a need to infuse pride in playing for the West Indies. The likes of Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard have always preferred franchise cricket.
Unless the players show dedication and take up the responsibility to restore the lost glory, West Indies cricket will continue to suffer.
“I hope and pray that by working together... we can do justice to the leadership and legacy of Frank Worrell and return West Indies cricket to its rightful place at the top,” Mottley summed it up quite nicely.
