By now, we’ve done all the stories about West Indies cricket and its sad decline. Heard them, read them, written them. Tour after tour of pining for the past, mumbling the names of frightening former greats like a fast-bowling rosary. The thing is, after the current team got done by 10 wickets before lunch on day three at Adelaide, there was much less of this stuff. The glory days are so far behind us that even their lamentation has become vintage.
Fair enough, too. The start of the great West Indies era is nearly 50 years past. Even its last flickers in 1999 were a quarter of a century ago. One might as well pine for Richie Benaud bowling around the wicket at Old Trafford. By now Australia dishing out a heavy beating to the Caribbean team is just contemporary reality.
There was no better example than the television broadcast closing with Brendon Julian’s closing mention that Australia had retained the Frank Worrell Trophy. The line was carefully enunciated to avoid the unfortunate spoonerism he produced after the corresponding series in 2015, but it was a quick aside just before heading to a long ad break and a match replay.
Compare that to 1995, when it was the biggest prize in the world for Australia, finally claiming it after West Indies teams had held it for eight series in a row. This is a trophy that was struck in the heat of public fervour for the brilliant West Indies visit of 1960-61. These days it’s an afterthought, its recipient decided after one match in this two-Test encounter that doesn’t deserve to be called a series.
West Indies’ women have played one Test in 45 years and will probably never play another. West Indies men are still functional at the lower end of the scale. They generally beat Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, have picked off a few against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and somehow keep winning series against England when hosting, while picking off the odd Test while visiting.
But it’s nearly ten years since they beat New Zealand in a Test. The last time they beat South Africa was 2007. The last time they beat Australia was 2003. Against India it was 2002. The last time in Australia was 1997. Or look at it this way: West Indies’ last 50 Test wins take us back to the famous one at Kingston in 1999. West Indies’ last 50 losses only date back to Lord’s 2012.
