Future of West Indies Cricket: Cricket has always been a game of immense interests among global citizens. And when we talk about cricket the name of few countries pop up into our mind. One such country that has made a deep impact in the history of cricket is West Indies. The country’s passion for cricket has always reflected the marvelous and exhilarating spirit of the game. The country does not only play cricket, rather the people of the country love the game from the core of their heart and live with it. It is even believed that the game was played in the Caribbean back in the late 18th century as well.
The Emergence of the team
Future of West Indies Cricket: The emergence of the cricket team dated back to the 1880s when the first combined West Indian team traveled Canada and the United States. In the 1890s, the first representative sides played against the visiting English sides. Colloquially known as The Windies, the West Indies cricket team is the representative of a sporting confederation of English-speaking Caribbean countries.
The West Indies Cricket Board or WICB became a part of the sport’s international ruling body, the Imperial Cricket Council, in 1926. The team played their first official international match, a Test, in the year 1928. Although blessed with some great players during their preliminary days as a Test nation, their successes remained erratic until the 1960s.
It was during the late 1960s the side had changed from a white-dominated to a black-dominated side. Their team from the 1970s and 1980s is now widely acknowledged for having one of the best in test cricket’s history, alongside Don Bradman’s Invincibles. During these years of glory, the Windies were known for their four-man fast bowling attack. But soon the darkness engulfed their glorious history. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, however, West Indian cricket was on the verge of decline. The rising popularity of athletics and football in West Indian countries may be partially responsible for this. and the team today is struggling to regain its past glory.
The Current Scenario of the Team
Future of West Indies Cricket: Despite its former glory, the West Indies team is struggling to regain its fame and status in the world of cricket. Despite the world breaking the record of Brian Lara, the team was witnessing its downfall in the 1990s, as the source of their fearsome firepower had diminished. However, the team had since then featured great players like Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Darren Sammy and former captain Chris Gayle. These men have contributed much to carry forward the legacy of Caribbean cricket.
The introduction Twenty-20 match and the World Cup of 2007 played a significant role in shaping the upcoming years of this cricket team. With the introduction of twenty-twenty cricket, the West Indies have displayed varied outcomes, some victories, numerous losses and sometimes been beaten ruthlessly. In 2007, the Caribbean hosted the Cricket World Cup, but their poor performances in the World Cup added much to the disappointment of Caribbean fans.
The Future and the hope against hope
Future of West Indies Cricket: Many critics are of the opinion that the team is gradually lacking sportsmanship, confidence, dedication and the will to win. Others believe that with disputes with the tormented West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), internal issues, frequent banns, resigns and quits, the outlook for West Indies cricket is responsible for their poor performances.
There have even been further allegations of corruption and bickering among factions that created even more hindrances for the team. It is obvious that the future holds serious consequences if this path is continued.
Despite the odds, there are multiple reasons that don’t let them give up and a ray of hope is still persistent. To this day, the potential for cricketing greatness is still there, but somehow it is failing to deliver. Young cricketers such as Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy, Jerome Taylor, Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards, and Kemar Roach are the new pillars of the team. To their immense potential, they have delivered their best to steadily raise the team’s playing standard and restore the glory.
Nevertheless, there are various opportunities that may lead to the new beginning for West Indies cricket. The future is undoubtedly in the hands of youngsters across the Caribbean who have immense confidence to wrap the future of West Indian cricket with pride and glory. They can surely understand that the lory can be restored through the love for the game. Organizations such as the WICB Grassroots Cricket Program, which is responsible for encouraging and fostering the participation of young aspiring cricketers in the game, is undoubtedly a good starting point. These youngsters who are the aspiring cricketers need to realize that the country needs ferocious fast bowlers and expansive, free hitting batsmen who will have the potential to stand against their opponents.
The rise and fall of West Indies cricket can be described as a fascinating tale of triumph versus adversity, a fall from grace, and then a new beginning. This revolution is in dire of the same vision and energy as the West Indies team of the yesteryears. It is time to unite the islands in order to regain the cricketing confidence. This will help to build the will to win. The talent is anyways hidden there. But there is a need for the dedication, confidence, and commitment to deliver. Everyone has their own opinion on the subject, but once they are all united in hoping that they can all enjoy West Indies cricket once again.
The Windies have won world T20 championships in 2012 and 2016 and have started picking up test victories. The fact that they have had to go through a qualifying series to get a spot in the next World Cup in 2019 in England, given their storied history in the 50-over format, is barely believable.
The opinion of The Players
Excerpts from an interview with Jason Holder:
Future of West Indies Cricket: There are bright batting talents emerging, lively Shannon Gabriel is making an impact with the new ball and the shoots are coming through to offer encouragement, albeit a long way short of the great days. We are still not the finished product, but I’m really pleased with the progression of the side. Most notable was the victory over England at Leeds, highlighted by a pair of centuries from batsman Shai Hope, the first time ever that had been achieved on the old ground in first-class cricket. It has done a lot for self-belief, but for me, that’s gone. We can pull on it at times when we’re down if we need to. But we need to create our future and live in the present. Shannon has always excited me and people throughout the Caribbean. He looks pretty good, pretty sharp. This is a new look side. Guys here are eager to play for the West Indies. We are heading in the right direction.
Some Promising Players Who Can Change the Scenario
1. Rahkeem Cornwall
The greatest cricketer around since Bermuda’s Dwayne Leverock, hailing from the place is Rahkeem Cornwall. Cornwall’s accomplishments with both bat and ball have been fundamental to the resurgence of the Leeward Islands over the most recent two years, in the wake of having abandoned a solitary win for a long time.
With 48 wickets from 10 matches, he was the second most astounding wicket-taker in the 2015/16 household season in West Indies. His six 5-wicket pulls were likewise the most astounding among bowlers in the class. With the bat close by, he is a performer, having an FC strike rate of 70.
Cornwall has gotten 77 FC wickets as of now in 17 matches, at a normal of 24.2. He has one century in the configuration too. It involves time before this 23-year-old’s potential is spotted and tackled.
2. Shai Hope
Having a century against the Indian bowling assault of Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Amit Mishra in the primary warm-up match at Warner Park is plentiful verification of the Test-coordinate abilities of 22-year-old Shai Hope, a top request batsman who can likewise bend over as a wicketkeeper.
He stayed unbeaten for one entire day, as seven wickets fell at the opposite end, complete with 118. The expectation is increasing gradually since he as of now has a twofold century added to his repertoire. He had scored 628 keeps running in nine matches in the 2014/15 season, pushing for a Test debut a year ago. He scored 538 keeps running from six matches last season, with the most elevated batting normal among all batsmen – 67.3.
With evidence of his ability effectively obvious, Hope has been played in 6 Tests for the nation. He has not yet succeeded on the worldwide stage, just having dealt with an aggregate of 171 runs, with the best endeavor of 36. Like the best-established batsmen, when he gets a decent begin, Hope can be trusted to change over into a major score. The India arrangement may be the take-off platform for him.
3. Roston Chase
Chase has been piling on the keeps running in West Indies household cricket’s ongoing past. Pursue has a sum of 1672 keeps running from 29 Tests at a normal of 42.9, having gathered the notoriety of being a standout amongst the best center request batsmen in the nation.
His most elevated score may just be 136, however, he gets to fifties at incredible recurrence. In the 2015/16 local season, he scored six half-hundreds of years, the most noteworthy in the class.
Chase couldn’t score much in the warm-up match against India, holing out to Amit Mishra for 3, yet will gaze make upward in the second match, and maybe gains a first Test top.
4. Jomel Warrican
On the off chance that West Indies quick bowlers were the stuff of batsmen’s bad dreams during the 80s, as of late that tag can be all the more properly put on the slower bowlers. Sunil Narine keeps on being the most troublesome spinner to confront directly, and the engineers of West Indies’ ongoing WT20 triumph were 34-year-olds Samuel Badree and Suleiman Benn.
The main name doing the rounds with respect to youthful spinners in the West Indies is that of 24-year-old Jomel Warrican, who has as of late added Virat Kohli to his rundown of scalps, a prestigious wicket grabbed inexpensively in the primary practice coordinate. Warrican’s left-arm turn represented the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane too.
Warrican has played 4 Tests since, getting 11 wickets, and setting up a great show as a feature of an unremarkable bowling line up. His best execution remains a 4/67 in Sri Lanka in his absolute first match. Warrican is very nearly a sureness to be picked in the West Indies Test squad for the India arrangement.
In the 2015/16 household season, Warrican played just 5 matches, half the same number of as most others, yet at the same time figured out how to be the tenth most elevated wicket-taker, with 28 scalps.
5. Gudakesh Motie
Future of West Indies Cricket: The greatest sprinkle in the latest local season in the Caribbean islands was made by 21-year-old Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai, an essential apparatus in the hero group, Guyana. Bowling at a normal of 13.5 and an economy rate of 2.2, the moderate left-arm universal bowler has flummoxed all batsmen in the 7 FC matches that he has played.
He may have made his presence just in November, however, Motie framed a decent team spirit with Veeraswamy Permaul while on the ground, as the two picked 40 wickets each in the season, bowling their group to the title. In just his second match, against the Leeward Islands, he had figures of 6/20 and 5/85, the best individual bowling execution of the period.
It has not been one year since he made his FC debut, so it is all around far-fetched that he will be considered for the India arrangement, yet there is no uncertainty about who the most energizing youthful bowler in the nation is at the present time.
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