Cricket in the Caribbean

What would you call a team comprising players from more than a dozen countries, a team that has time and again dominated a sport with sheer power and ruthlessness. Simple, we call it the West Indies cricket team!

It is hard to fathom that a team of 11 players can be represented by an even larger number of countries but the existing proof is for all to see and admire. The West Indies cricket team is an amalgam of independent nations Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

It also includes British Dependencies- Anguilla, Montserrat and British Virgin Islands, apart from representing other overseas dependencies of US Virgin Islands & Saint Martin (Combined island of Sint Maarten & Saint Martin).

With so many island-nations to represent, the West Indies cricket team surely gives a complete flavour of the Caribbean Islands. But the recent row of the players and the respective boards comprising the WICB almost de-fragmented the team that we have come to know as a synonym of tearing fast bowling and brutal batting.

Controversies

The WICB has been somewhat of a magnet for controversies since its inception. The 1955 tour by England saw the visitors complaining about biased umpiring and bad crowd behaviour. On the other hand, there were racist tones added to it with the allegations of the West Indian players saying that the touring whites were not ‘social’ in their behaviour and also the fact that even some of the team’s own players had issues among them. As a result, Trueman was sacked on disciplinary grounds after the series and his next return into the England squad was after a long time.

The West Indian batsmen and pacers have been notorious for their bullying tactics. None would forget the fearsome Joel Garner, Courtney Walsh, Andy Roberts, Courtney Ambrose and the all imposing Malcolm Marshall for the element of fear that they struck into the minds of the opposition.

The latest in the bag was the refusal of many of the WICB contracted players to play a Test series against Bangladesh as they were discontented over the fact that they have had to play four tournaments without a legitimate contract in place and were unwilling to go any further on similar lines.

The cricket team, that has given the world some of the best in the business like Sir Vivian Richards, Gary Sobers, Brian Lara and Desmond Haynes, was almost on the verge of being dismantled.

Talks have been conducted, some grievances have been solved. A lot needs to be done for the revival, but one thing is for sure…Cricket in Caribbean will always bounce back for it is something that has crept into the blood of the population.