Windies cricket needs protection

Tue, Jan 31, '23

LET’S turn back the clock and look for clues.

As some would have us believe, West Indies cricket didn’t start in the 1980s. Nor was its popularity achieved by not losing a Test series between 1980 and 1995. A film was also produced that only highlighted the tremendous pace bowling of the eighties and nineties.

However, WI cricket made big strides from the time they were accepted in 1928 as a Test-playing region which combined the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean as one unit to engage their colonisers in Test matches. Before that recognition, West Indian people had developed a love for the game and through the efforts of these pioneers, the early Caribbean citizens improved themselves at the sport.

Excitement grew in the WI as time marched on and the realization that they were good enough at the sport to compete with the Englishmen and the Australians, the initial two competitors that battled each other for the Ashes. It was noticeable that the West Indian possessed a natural flair for the game which excited the staid, conservative character of the Englishman.

The first one they invited to play in their leagues at home was the late Sir Learie Constantine who lit up the playing fields of Great Britain.

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