We have had the worst possible advertisement there is for Test cricket over the past three days in Rajkot.
Test cricket’s newest entrant, Windies, are a shadow of the giants of the past who represented what was called West Indies till recently. The change in nomenclature has just confirmed the fall from grace for the once mighty cricket legacy of the Caribbean Islands.
Not a Test Side Anymore
It is a tragedy of epic proportions that Windies do not have the depth or the talent anymore to compete with the big boys in Test cricket. There are multiple reasons for this, but most importantly it may well be that Test cricket is simply not their cup of tea anymore.
It is well worth asking if Windies really want to play Test cricket. If they do not want to play, should they be forced to play the longer format at all? Much like, Zimbabwe, maybe.
Is it really important for world cricket to have 12 Test nations, when you know that the contests of the big boys against the bottom four sides are a foregone conclusion?
Next year, post the 2019 World Cup, the International Cricket Council (ICC) will unveil their ambitious World Test Championship. But by then it will be a little too late to save the oldest format.
The World Championship for Tests was first announced in 2011 but had to be shelved then because of – who else – but India. Now eight years later we have lost much time thanks to the arrival of a multitude of Twenty20 leagues. The biggest beneficiary of this mushrooming of the Twenty20 leagues are the Windies showstoppers who have turned their back on Test cricket.
Stubborn Policy
Cricket West Indies (CWI) too have a strict policy which ignores players who skip domestic one-day and first-class tournaments for selection in the ODI and Test squads. As a result, the likes of Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels amongst the Twenty20 travellers hardly play the longer formats. The only domestic tournament that all these superstars play is Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and that results in them being selected for the Twenty20 squad.
This has meant that the Windies continue to be a powerhouse in Twenty20 cricket, but struggle in ODI cricket, and are woeful in Test matches. Windies had to play a qualifying tournament to make it to the World Cup next year and lost to Afghanistan in the final of the qualifier!
Break ‘Em Up
The time has therefore now come to look at breaking-up the concept of Windies. This concept was essentially a coming together of different countries under one banner, West Indies, with just one goal in mind: to take on the one-time colonial masters.
But somewhere around the mid-1990s, that feeling has disappeared, because the entire region is much more secure than before. As a result that feeling of oneness has disappeared and there is hardly a common goal binding them together.
So it could well be a case for the various countries making up the region – Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, Leeward Islands and Windward Islands – to go their separate ways. Of these islands –T&T, Barbados, Jamaica and Guyana have a strong cricket legacy. They could be retained as associate members of ICC, with ODI and T20I status only. This way it will ensure that the rich legacy of Caribbean cricket is kept alive in a small way, albeit in a different form.
It is a radical thought but one that will keep the cricket in the Caribbean region in some form or shape. The cricketers from Windies will have a chance to play international cricket directly rather than wait for a chance in the unified squad. In the past this wait has frustrated a number of players and they have given it all up.
Awful Team Selections
Since about 2003-04, selections of Test playing XIs in West Indies cricket have also been a problem. They have usually gone in with just three regular bowlers, sometimes asking their all-rounders Dwayne Bravo, Daren Sammy and Jason Holder to do the lion’s job. In most other sides these all-rounders are the fifth or sixth option, but for Windies they have been the fourth option. This is because they haven’t been sure about their batting.
As a result the big boys pile up massive scores, leaving Windies with very little opportunity to force the issue.
Till just a couple of years ago, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo were also part of the Test XI, so there was some solidity in the line-up. But contractual and selectorial reasons ended their journeys in the Windies Test line-up. As a result the current Windies Test XI will hardly inspire awe or fear like in the past.
Scheduling Woes
When the World Test Championship kicks in, every side has to play six series either at home or away in a period of two years. So you may hardly get these mismatches post the 2019 World Cup. But there is simply no way for Windies to get back into the big league, because there is no scheme for promotion or relegation.
Looking at the schedule going forward it looks pretty lopsided for the Windies till 2023. Their one time marquee contests against England, Australia and South Africa have been reduced to a farce. Most of these Test series are now just about two matches at the most. In fact India is scheduled to play Windies just once in a Test series till 2023 and that too right after the World Cup next year in a two-match contest. That will also mark the start of the campaign for India in the World Test Championship. It has been 16 years since West Indies beat India in a Test match or even a series and now it looks like that may well be the case forever!
Going by their recent track record, the Windies tour could have as well started on 4 November when the Twenty20 series gets underway. India has struggled against Windies in just one format, Twenty20 cricket and that could well provide the most enthralling contests of the tour.
(Chandresh Narayanan is a former cricket writer with The Times of India, The Indian Express, ex-Media Officer for ICC and current media manager of Delhi Daredevils. He is also the author of World Cup Heroes, Cricket Editorial consultant, professor and cricket TV commentator.)
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