There was nothing alien about fast-bowlers until the West Indies found themselves with four who clocked above 90 mph. And with a plan 'B'—as reserves for the traditional formats—school of thought ascribed to T20 cricket, it was the format's dons representing the Caribbean side, their domination of franchise cricket transcending internationally, that gave birth to the exotica factor of T20 specialists. West Indies playing their part in the ultimate revolution of cricket, yet again.
The West Indies cricket team, formed in the 1880s, was first assembled for tours of Canada and the United States. The region’s first official international Test match took place in 1928, two years on from its governing body, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), joining the game’s ruling body, the then-Imperial Cricket Conference (ICC) in 1926.
Great cricketers, good performances, and magical moments were always a part of West Indian teams; still, until the 1960s, the three seemed, in effect, mutually exclusive. Cue Clive Lloyd and his vision, assembling the likes of Vivian Richards, Michael Holding, and Andy Roberts, along with Colin Croft, Gordon Greenidge, Joel Garner, etc. The rest, as they say, is history—the 1970s gave birth to something unmistakeably remarkable: domination (through to the early-1990s), by arguably one of the greatest teams in sporting history.
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