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Why does cricket need a strong West Indies?

JediNudist

U19 Debutant
Going back to the original question the ICC priced the Windies locals out of their own world cup . Not going to encourage the new talent to take up cricket ahead of b-ball and football
 

smash84

The Tiger King
That's not his point though. He's saying there would've been people who would've scoffed at Lara and Tendulkar and Waugh in the early part of their careers saying they weren't fit to lace Viv/Border/Gavaskar's boots. And I'm pretty sure there were many facts who thought that. Sure, blokes like Tendulkar and Warne were pretty much unanimously regarded as great players barely 3-4 years into their careers, but there definitely would've been detractors.

.
yeah, but there will always be SOME detractors won't there? I mean since when do we have consensus as a regular thing?
 

WindieWeathers

International Regular
Because when you look at achievements in the entire HISTORY of the game really only Australia can challenge us. Our cricket also has it's own DNA with the swagger and style our teams have had over the years which no other side has replicated.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Because when you look at achievements in the entire HISTORY of the game really only Australia can challenge us. Our cricket also has it's own DNA with the swagger and style our teams have had over the years which no other side has replicated.
Strong claim for a team who have lost more Test matches than they have ever won and if even assuming that the "entire HISTORY of the game" started in 1928 when WI played their first Test (which of course it obviously didnt.)
 

smash84

The Tiger King
I guess it doesn't help that India have been around for far longer than the Lankans have (so were borderline minmows for longer).
yeah, but i reckon that there was a lot less cricket played at that time.

Also when SL came in there were more established teams around (just look at bangers looking so ordinary against everyone)
 

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
Regarding the opening post,
I think when people long for a revival of West Indies cricket, they don't necessarily mean for one team to dominate. What they mean is for more competition among the test playing teams.

Cricket desperately needs more fans around the world, more people to get involved with the game and it cannot afford to lose the Caribbean fans. Actually we have already lost them because hardly anyone cares about cricket over there anymore. And that is why you have these things like "Big 3" emerging and what not.
Today cricket is only given importance when India, Australia and England are playing. One of the consequences of this problem is the shameful ignorance of the Australian commentators about anyone else outside of these nations. They don't know any of the players, their backgrounds, their performances in the last 1 year, they don't even know their names.
We need more and more good teams to have more of a contest in the matches. When Australia tour West Indies later this year, no one is going to care about it because we already know Australia is going to thrash them. This is bad for cricket.
 

G.I.Joe

International Coach
I keep hearing time and time again that the West Indies decline has been such a shame and that in order for test cricket to flourish, it needs a strong West Indies team. I hear it in particular from Ian Chappell who must have faced a few decent West Indies quicks.

I don't understand why cricket is of the opinion that it is poorer when the West Indies is poorer. True they brought a romance and style to the game never seen before, but for one side to stop hammering allcomers year in year out, doesn't that make things more competitive? A level playing field? I'm not sure I want to go back to the days when one team was hammering everyone, and find the top four battles of the recent years where the number one spot has swung from one team to the other far more enjoyable. Why is it never a shame that Zimbabwe is so weak? Why didn't cricket mind when England were getting stuffed year in year out home and away in the nineties?
Excellent point, bud. The issue seems to be coloured with nuances.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Strong claim for a team who have lost more Test matches than they have ever won and if even assuming that the "entire HISTORY of the game" started in 1928 when WI played their first Test (which of course it obviously didnt.)
Test Cricket only existed between 1960 and 1995.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Only existed between 2008-2011 imo (stopped just before India tour to England)
 

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