Remembering 4 September 2000: The day England finally took back the Wisden Trophy, 26 years ago today.

England's 3-1 victory in 2000 was their first home series win over the West Indies since 1969. The empire had been weakening for years. At The Oval, the paperwork was finally completed.

For a generation of English cricketers, West Indies had not been an opponent so much as weather. They arrived every few summers, darkened the sky with fast bowling, and left with the Wisden Trophy.

Between 1973 and 1998, England did not win a Test series against them anywhere. The home encounters included the 1976 3-0 punishment guaranteed by Tony Greig's unfortunate "grovel" remark, consecutive 5-0 defeats in 1984 and 1985-86, and a succession of English batsmen discovering that courage and technical adequacy were separate things.

By 2000, the great West Indies side had already gone. Australia had taken the unofficial championship from them, ending their 15-year run without a series loss with a 2-1 result in the Caribbean in 1995. 

Read the permanent retrospective

Lawd, i remember this. It felt like the end of an era indeed. Peeps said it was a blip but I knew it was the just the way things were going.

@Arawak wrote:

Lawd, i remember this. It felt like the end of an era indeed. Peeps said it was a blip but I knew it was the just the way things were going.

I certainly knew the good days were gone.

It was Ambi's last Test series and Walsh wasn't too far behind him. Guys like like King, McLean, and Rose would bowl pure shit after Ambi and Walsh finished their spells.

Even on the cusp of retirement, and well past their prime, Ambi and Walsh were a class apart from all of the other fast bowlers who were supposed to inherit the rich legacy those two were leaving behind.

But don't forget we did get back the Wisden in 2009 under Gayle's captaincy only for those incompetent goobers, Hunte and Hilaire, to schedule a return series in England in May (in the freezing cold) and lose the Wisden trophy for good.