The fall of West Indies cricket: Chronicling the highs and the lows of the Calypso Kings

The only constant in life is change and death. As humans, we have a tendency to take things for granted as if they will stick around forever. However, nothing lasts forever—just like West Indies’ dominance in Tests during the glorious era of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

There was a time when West Indies were the immovable object in the world of cricket. The sport might be labelled as a batsmen’s game, but it was the Caribbean bowling attack that made them the most revered and feared sides in the history of the sport.

The likes of Michael Holding, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Malcolm Marshal et al, intimidated batsmen like no other bowling line-up—it was emphatic, the West Indies team were the outright emperors of the cricketing fraternity.

However, nothing lasts forever. Hence, like every other thing in the world, the Calypsos fell, too—and it was a terrible fall, one from which they haven’t risen again as of yet.

The documentary Death of a Gentleman looks at the decline of West Indies cricket. Here's Michael Holding, Chris Gayle and the likes talking about it in the trailer:

A look at the stats will put one’s mind in delirium.

From March 1976 to March 1995, the West Indies cricket team participated in 91 Tests. Among them, the lost only 20 and won the remaining 71. In fact, between 1980 and 1995, they didn’t lose a single Test series—be it at home or away.

Back then, only 8 other sides had Test status (Zimbabwe didn’t earn it until 1992) and these aforementioned stats were while playing against those nations.

However, the drastic fall came during the late 1990s.

From 2000 to October 2015, the West Indies team featured in a similar amount of Tests against those 8 opponents. How many did they win? Fourteen. Only fourteen. And in how many did they fall prey to the opponents? An astonishing 78 games.

Their ODI performances took a similar fall, but we will leave that discussion for another day. The only solace their fans found was in their displays in the shortest format of the game (T20), where they managed to win 2 World Cups.

So how does a mighty team like the West Indies fall like that? For one, a terrible internal structure.

The predecessor of WICB, West Indies Cricket Board of Control, had only one full-time employee in the 80s—this goes to show the lack of care they placed for their legends and heroes.

If the root is weak, the whole tree suffers. The current board also took to their ancestors as they are just about as indifferent to their players like their fathers. The constant wars between the players association and the board, coupled with the fact the Caribbean Islands aren’t always in good terms which each other, hasn’t helped either.

All this had led to the fall of West Indies cricket. It is not that the Islands don’t produce talented gems. The likes of Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo have been the glowing torches of West Indies cricket for a long time, but the lack of infrastructure and a good paying level means that they have shifted their focus on the T20 format than Tests or First-class—the formats where true legends are forged.

Also, there is an external factor that played an indirect role in West Indies' demise. Almost all the blame should fall in the WICB's shoulder, but the rise of BCCI and its monopolization of the game along with ECB and CA have left the other boards feeding off the scraps left by them. As it is, the WICB doesn't pay much heed to its players' plea for better wages. Add the external factor into account and the whole thing becomes a quagmire.

Right now, it doesn’t seem like the situation will get any better for them. One can only hope, for the sake of the legends from the bygone days, that this nation finds its feet in the format they excelled and schooled other teams at and roll back the years. However, that day might never come.

The documentary, Death of a Gentleman, by Dartmouth Films, talks about the fall of West Indies cricket and the reason behind it.

You can watch Death of a Gentleman for Rs. 99/- exclusively on TVFPlay here: http://bit.ly/DOAGOnTVFPlay (This movie is available only in India)