Everything about West Indies Cricket Team

The most dominant team in cricket from 1970s till 1990s was the West Indies. They had a great talent pool then who would easily crush their opponents on their given day. The team comprised of GOATs like Clive Lloyd, Brain Lara, Michael Holding, Viv Richards and many more. At present, the team is not studded with such big names as the national board has witnessed downfall in recent years. Presently they are ranked 7th in Tests and the team is captained by Kraigg Brathwaite. They rank 10th in ODIs format and the team is headed by Shai Hope and they rank 3rd in T20 captained by Rovmann.

History 

West Indies joined the Imperial Cricket Council (International Cricket Council) in 1926 and became the fourth test nation. They used to play regular matches with other test nations back then.

In 1939, before the outbreak of the Second World War, they played their last match against England. Later, they defeated England for the first time at Lord’s on 29th June, 1950. In 1975, they won the inaugural World Cup and retained the title in 1979. The team then had four lethal fast bowlers, who never hesitated in hitting hard body lengths to the batter. 

West Indies Cricket Board and their internal politics

The West Indies team is not just one national team but a team picked from 15 Caribbean countries. It is a Group of 6 cricket associations who collectively make a single team. These associations are Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Windward Island.

Due to a lot of internal politics, the nation is witnessing a downfall at the international level. Lack of opportunities and unfair payments, are few of the many reasons why youth in these countries are not preferring to become a professional cricketer. They are migrating to the US and Canada to play other sports like basketball and baseball as it has better growth opportunities, and money involved there is quite massive. Consequently, over the years we are seeing a sharp decline of cricket in Caribbean countries.

Players

Currently there are 13 players who are under the central contract by West Indies Cricket Board. 

Support staff  

Women’s team

Unlike the men’s team, the women’s team does not have a vast history or prominent players. The most notable player among them is Nadine George. She was the first and only woman of now to score a test century. However, the sport is slowly growing among women as well. Players like, Healey Mathew etc are taking part in franchise cricket in other countries as well. The women’s team conquered their first ever T20 World Cup title in 2016 where they defeated Australia by eight wickets in Eden Garden.

World Cup champions

As mentioned above, the Caribbeans were very dominant before. All the players were very aggressive and used to play rough cricket back then. They displayed their charisma by conquering World Cup tournaments in 1975 and 1979. They were runners up in 1975, 1979, 1983 too. Their power hitting abilities came very handy in the shortest format too. They lifted the T20 World Cup champions in 2012 and 2016 as well. West Indies were winners of ICC Champions Trophy 2006

Past records

On four occasions, West Indies scored innings totaling beyond 700. Their highest innings total was 790 for 3 against Pakistan in Kingston in 1957-58. As far as individual records are concerned, four players have managed to hit Triple centuries. Those were:

Legacy

West Indian players were highly regarded before. All the esteemed players gave a lot to sport and contributed vastly for the development of cricket. Their efforts were highly recognised by ICC by embarking their name in  ICC Hall of Fame. Those players were: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Desmond Haynes, Learie Constantine, Wesley Hall, Brian Lara, Curtly Abrose, Joel Garner, Courtney Walsh, Lance Gibbs, Garfield Sobers, Viv Richards, Malcom Marshall, Everton Weekes, Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai, Michael Holding, Frank Worrell, George Headley, Clyde Walcott, Andy Roberts, Gordon Greenidge. 

In 2010, a documentary called Fire in Babylon was released which displayed the dominance of the West Indies team in the 1970s and 1980s. It even showed how the players battled against Racism back in those days. 

Team flag

Cricket West Indies have a flag outlined with maroon color. The logo has a palm tree, wicket and sun in the foreground and a beach in the background. Prior to 1999, the flag did not have a wicket in between, and instead of the sun, there was the constellation Orion. It was designed by Sir Algernon Aspinall in 1923. 

 Changes in jersey and sponsorships

Their fifty  overs game , their jersey is of maroon color with the logo of their cricket board and supplier's name, that is , Macron. In a T20 game, they wear a yellow coloured shirt with a maroon coloured sleeve, along with the logo of the board and supplier’s name. In tests, the players wear a white jersey with their names and numbers printed in maroon color.