A painful anniversary for West Indies cricket

2015 will bring a significant but painful anniversary for West Indies cricket. It will mark 20 years since the West Indies team was beaten by Australia at home and lost top position in Test cricket.

No real follower of West Indies cricket will ever forget the wicket keeper, Courtney Browne, dropping a simple catch off Australian Steve Waugh at Sabina Park.

Waugh was then on 42 and went on to score 200. That was the beginning of the end.

We could not remain world champions forever but no lover of West Indies cricket would, in his or her darkest nightmare, have dreamt that 20 years later we would be languishing miserably at the bottom of the pile with no sign of progress.

In that period, we have seen Australia rise and fall three times. We have seen England rise and fall and India the same. We have seen South Africa, who in 1995 had not long returned to Test cricket, produce a number of top-class teams. These teams are tired of whipping us. Our team has gone from bad to worse and is now close to terminally ill.