The most obvious example of the problem facing Test cricket—namely, how to maintain its health in areas where it isn’t flourishing—occurs in the Caribbean.
We have already covered every tale there is to tell about the tragic fall of West Indies cricket. read, heard, and written them. Tour after tour of longing for the old days, reciting like a fast-bowling rosary the names of the former greats. What’s happened is that there was a lot less of this stuff when the current side was defeated by 10 wickets before lunch on day three in Adelaide. Their mourning has become archaic, as the glorious days seem so far behind us.
Okay, that’s also fair. It has been almost 50 years since the beginning of the glorious West Indies era. It was even twenty-five years ago when its last flickers occurred in 1999. At Old Trafford, one could as well wish for Richie Benaud to be bowling around the wicket. It is now a common occurrence for Australia to decisively defeat the Caribbean side.
The television show that concluded with Brendon Julian mentioning that Australia had kept the Frank Worrell Trophy was the best example. Though he was careful not to repeat the disastrous spoonerism he did during the 2015 series, the statement was a brief digression before a lengthy commercial break and match replay began.
In contrast, in 1995, it
In forty-five years, the ladies of the West Indies have played one Test match and are unlikely to play any more. Men from the West Indies remain functional at the lowest end of the spectrum. They have won a few against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, usually defeating Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, and they manage to win series against England when they are in the country while also winning the occasional Test match when they are away.
However, they haven’t defeated New Zealand in a Test match in almost a decade. They haven’t defeated South Africa since 2007. They haven’t defeated Australia since 2003. In 2002, India was the opponent. In Australia, it was the last time in 1997. Or consider it like this: Our last 50 Test victories as West Indies take us back to that historic one at Kingston
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