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Why does cricket need a strong West Indies?

Langeveldt

Langeveldt

Soutie
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?
 
Daemon

Daemon

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People haven't been appreciating how awesome the cricket recently has been. So many close matches, great knocks, crazy bowling spells, emerging players. It's brilliant.
 
Howe_zat

Howe_zat

Audio File
I suspect when people like Chappell say so it 's mostly nostalgia, but really I think test cricket has so few teams that the decline of any is a serious problem.
 
Agent Nationaux

Agent Nationaux

International Coach
Cricket needs a strong West Indies so that it is about equal to the current top teams to make it even more interesting. However it doesn't need a dominant West Indies.
 
BoyBrumby

BoyBrumby

Englishman
I think they add something else that other countries don't.

Test cricket is largely made up of two blocs: the Anglos (England, Oz, NZ & even the southern African countries to a lesser extent) and the subcontinental sides. The Windies are outside this altogether and bring a different sensibility to the stew.

Cricket doesn't need a strong West Indies as such, but a competitive Caribbean test side is definitely desirable.
 
kyear2

kyear2

Cricketer Of The Year
Agent Nationaux said:
Cricket needs a strong West Indies so that it is about equal to the current top teams to make it even more interesting. However it doesn't need a dominant West Indies.
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BoyBrumby said:
I think they add something else that other countries don't.

Test cricket is largely made up of two blocs: the Anglos (England, Oz, NZ & even the southern African countries to a lesser extent) and the subcontinental sides. The Windies are outside this altogether and bring a different sensibility to the stew.

Cricket doesn't need a strong West Indies as such, but a competitive Caribbean test side is definitely desirable.
Click to expand...
Agree with both of these. They don't mean an all conquering team, they want a competitive team to add to the mix.
 
hendrix

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Daemon said:
People haven't been appreciating how awesome the cricket recently has been. So many close matches, great knocks, crazy bowling spells, emerging players. It's brilliant.
Click to expand...
yeah, there's been some awesome test cricket in the last year or so...and before then as well of course, but the quality seems particularly high now.

What the Windies do bring is a different culture to cricket than the Western/Asian groups. Not to say that there isn't already diversity within those groups, but it's cool to have the different dynamic.
 
Red

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
Cricket needs a strong WIs as well as a few other nations getting test status over the next 20 years
 
morgieb

morgieb

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Howe_zat said:
I suspect when people like Chappell say so it 's mostly nostalgia, but really I think test cricket has so few teams that the decline of any is a serious problem.
Click to expand...
BoyBrumby said:
I think they add something else that other countries don't.

Test cricket is largely made up of two blocs: the Anglos (England, Oz, NZ & even the southern African countries to a lesser extent) and the subcontinental sides. The Windies are outside this altogether and bring a different sensibility to the stew.

Cricket doesn't need a strong West Indies as such, but a competitive Caribbean test side is definitely desirable.
Click to expand...
Yeah, would agree with these.
 
M

mohammad16

U19 Captain
Isn't it obvious? West Indians bring a certain flare to the game, not to mention the islands are genetically predisposed to produce freakish athletes. Some of the most exciting cricketers in history have come from the West Indies, Pakistan is also similar in this respect and crucial to cricket's world appeal for the same reason.
 
Jono

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
That phrase just wants WI to come back to the top echelon, not necessary be the all-conquering team and everyone else getting battered from them. Odd interpretation.

And a strong WI is more desirable than a strong Zimbabwe or England because history has shown a strong WI is far more entertaining than those teams, at least on the whole.
Monk said:
Cricket needs a strong WIs as well as a few other nations getting test status over the next 20 years
Click to expand...
This is the crux of it though. Test cricket is pretty **** in terms of competitiveness when you think about it. The minute there are like 2 or more **** teams in the top 8 its lame. Such an uncompetitive sport. We only love it because its the norm and what we're used to. Any other major international sport where teams did not beat other teams for decades when there are only 8 teams or so would be seen as outrageous.
 
Burgey

Burgey

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mohammad16 said:
Isn't it obvious? West Indians bring a certain flare to the game, not to mention the islands are genetically predisposed to produce freakish athletes. Some of the most exciting cricketers in history have come from the West Indies, Pakistan is also similar in this respect and crucial to cricket's world appeal for the same reason.
Click to expand...
Pakistan is genetically predisposed to producing exciting cricketers, or Pakistan has produced some of the world's most exciting cricketers? or Both?
 
Jono

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Fair to say Pakistan is not genetically predisposed to producing freakish athletes :ph34r:

Exciting cricketers though, they certainly do.

But who needs exciting cricketers when you can product Misbah though. WAFG he is. He is worth more than 10 exciting but flawed cricketers you'd think.
 
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