A World Cup without West Indies

Amidst all the hype leading into next monthrsquos World Cup the pain of the West Indies not being among the participating teams has recurred after first hitting us when they didnrsquot come out on top in the Zimbabwehosted World Cup Qualifier in JulyThe absurdness of it all may qualify pun unintended in the early chapters of cricketrsquos own version of Ripleyrsquos Believe It Or NotThe game is littered with examples of rarities but WI not part of oneday international cricketrsquos biggest stage is unthinkableI rang Antiguabased pace great Sir Andy Roberts on Tuesday night to get an idea of the mood prevailing in the Caribbean as the first cricket World Cup without WI is close at hand ldquoI canrsquot stress enough how disappointed we are We read about other countries announcing their teams and we are not going to be there no WI to talk about Itrsquos beyond disappointment This is what happens when you donrsquot pay attention to your cricketrdquo Roberts told meRoberts figured in the 1975 1979 and 1983 World Cups and was the WI coach in 1996 the last time the erstwhile kings of cricket figured in an ODI World Cup semifinalTheir performance in the first two editions before being losing finalists to India in 1983 reflected sheer dominance However they nearly lost to Pakistan at Edgbaston in the 1975 edition Responding to Pakistanrsquos 266 WI found themselves in a hole when Sarfaraz Nawaz sent back Gordon Greenidge Roy Fredericks and Alvin Kallicharran with only 36 on the board Skipper Lloyd who scored a half century was seventh out with more than 100 to get Keith Boyce and Vanburn Holder departed for seven and 16 respectively before Roberts joined wicketkeeper Deryck Murray with the scoreboard reading 2039Also read Name more public infrastructure after braveheartsMurray 61 not out and Roberts 24 not out got the required 64 runs in incredible fashion I asked Roberts how they managed it ldquoFrom what I remember we had 14 overs to get 60 odd We had enough balls to do it and that was the most encouraging aspect It was a question of staying together and I would say we had 50 per cent chances of getting thererdquo he recalled Strangely the manofthematch award went to Pakistanrsquos Sarfaraz who bagged four wickets The adjudicator Tom Graveney had conveyed his decision to the authorities before the match could end Roberts told me that the England batting great of the 1950s and 1960s had presumed WI would lose and headed to the bar at the ground Apparently he learnt about Pakistanrsquos loss from a reporter ldquoDeryck should have got the award He stood around and scored the vast majority of runs Sure Sarfaraz bowled well but he didnrsquot finish the gamerdquo stressed RobertsWest Indies steamrolled their opponents in the 1979 World Cup and played with the same XI throughout But no matter how much talent a team have the need to labour on will be a constant As Greenidge wrote in The Man in the Middle ldquoThe celebrations were every bit as hectic as when we had first won the Prudential World Cup four years before and although we had been redhot favourites we had been forced to work hard to justify the bookiesrsquo oddsrdquoThe 1983 edition was a bitter pill to swallow for WI losing to India twice the first one in Manchester being their firstever loss in a World Cup gameIn 1987 they missed out on the services of premier fast bowler Malcolm Marshall who chose to rest his tired body Richardsrsquo men who lost close games to England twice and Pakistan didnrsquot make the semifinalsIn 1992 the men from the Caribbean didnrsquot have the best of build ups to the tournament Under Richie Richardson they were not great in the World Series Cup triangular featuring hosts Australia and IndiaBut they opened their World Cup with a fine win over eventual champions Pakistan at Melbourne They couldnrsquot quite repeat the MCG brilliance against England South Africa New Zealand and AustraliaIn 1996 WI were stunned by minnows Kenya at Pune They picked themselves up and managed to beat Australia at Jaipur and South Africa in the quarterfinals at Karachi where Brian Lara scored 111 which was followed by a shocking batting performance by Hansie Cronjersquos team who were 1863 at one stage chasing 265 for victory WI reached the semifinals against Australia and were driving away to victory before giving it away Wisden of 1997 said ldquoWest Indies pulled off an extraordinary defeat losing eight wickets in the final 50 minutesrdquoRoberts watched that from his coachrsquos seat at the PCA Stadium in Mohali I donrsquot remember him uttering a word to the media from the time his team landed in Mumbai for that World Cup He was more speechless after the Mohali showIn 2003 I watched Lara smash a brilliant hundred in the World Cup opener at Newlands Cape Town and thought WI would go the distance in the remainder of the tournament It wasnrsquot to be Same was the case in the World Cups of 2007 at home 2011 in India and Bangladesh 2015 in Australia and NZ and 2019 in England Indeed WI have disappointed their fans the world overIn India players like Chris Gayle Kieron Pollard Dwayne Bravo Andre Russell and Sunil Narine have been hailed for their T20 exploits but none of them have experienced ODI World Cup triumphs or highs Viewing that in perspective is as hard to comprehend as WI not being seen in this World Cupmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper