Former giants West Indies reeling after five straight defeats

West Indies have suffered back-to-back series whitewashes by Australia and India in a run of five straight losses that has exposed not just technical and structural gaps but a deeper erosion of the pride that once defined the famous maroon cap.

The former behemoths of the game have been on a steady decline since the 1990s, often struggling to assemble a decent Test squad after losing their best talent to the lure of franchise cricket.

Few expected an overnight change in their fortunes when the test captaincy was thrust on Roston Chase in May but five consecutive defeats since then show how far the erstwhile giants have fallen.

Australia blanked them 3-0 and the humiliation of being bundled out for 27 in the final test in July triggered an emergency meeting also involving some of the past greats.

It provided no silver bullet though.

India outclassed West Indies 2-0 earlier this month, inflicting an innings defeat inside three days in Ahmedabad and the ignominy of a follow-on in Delhi.

Talking to reporters ahead of the Delhi Test, Chase said finance and facilities limited his side’s potential.

“I think the systems in the Caribbean are a bit poor in terms of training facilities and stuff,” Chase said though he did not use it as an excuse for the team’s free-fall.

“But what I would say is yes, there is obviously a struggle in the Caribbean for finances,” he added.

West Indies need financial resources

Head coach Daren Sammy revisited history and felt West Indies did not reap the financial rewards despite being cricket’s driving force.

Now that they are in the doldrums, the global game owes West Indies more than nostalgia, he said.

“It’s like India now. Everybody wants India to tour, because that’s where the financial gains are. India brings that to the home territory. That was West Indies in the past. So for now, when ... we are in need of those financial resources to help us grow and move forward, I think we deserve that.”

The governing International Cricket Council did not reply to a Reuters email asking if it had any plans to lift West Indies cricket out of the morass.

Batting great Brian Lara accepted that the funding squeeze was real and did not begrudge Caribbean players choosing franchise leagues over international cricket.

But the former captain wondered if the passion to wear the maroon cap that links multiple islands under a single badge had diminished.

“We did not have better facilities 30-40 years ago,” Lara said in Mumbai last week.

“Viv Richards didn’t bat on any better practice pitches or anything. We had to do the same thing, the same grind, but the passion was different. The passion to play for West Indies was different.”

West Indies has announced a slew of short-term and long-term measures to lift cricket in the region, including hiring specialist coaches, establishing a high-performance centre in Antigua and coordinating with franchise teams to monitor the players’ fitness.