Don’t dump the West Indies

Defeated by Pakistan inside three days of the opening Test at Multan Dismissed for 44 by India in the womenrsquos U19 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur Put out of the ODI womenrsquos World Cup qualification race with their recent loss to Bangladesh in the second ODI at home Things are indeed choppier in the sea of Caribbean cricketTherersquos more The former kings of the willow game are at risk of being relegated in menrsquos Test cricket if a planned twotier system comes to fruition Indeed that will be bitter for a region that has produced some of the finest cricketers across bygone erasClive Lloyd is worried Andy Roberts is more than just concerned They have every reason to be Lloyd made them the No1 team to beat in the 1970s and mid1980s And Roberts spearheaded their famous pace quartet which also comprised Michael Holding Joel Garner and Colin CroftldquoWe West Indies were the cash cows for a lot of countries over the years People must recognise that But we are at that situation now where we need the help and we canrsquot get itrdquo Lloyd was quoted as saying in a Reuters reportLloyd was captain of the West Indies when the cream of their players signed up for Kerry Packerrsquos World Series Cricket in 197778 The West Indies stars formed a big part of Packerrsquos overseas players group He stretched every sinew to get them to sign Remember that story about Michael Holding being approached by Packerrsquos trusted men Tony Greig and Austin Robertson at the fast bowlerrsquos home in Jamaica And how Holding soon realised that what was being offered was for real when he went to the bank to get his passbook for the second time after a disappointing first visit updated only to discover that there was a comma in that little savings book for the first time in his life Packer knew that the West Indies were pivotal if World Series Cricket were to succeed After getting them on board they played sloppy cricket in one of their early games Packer entered the dressing room and in Robertsrsquo words delivered a ldquotonguelashingrdquo The big Australian business tycoon also reportedly threatened to send lackadaisical players back home on a Qantas flight The West Indians got the message and became virtually unbeatableThe last of World Series Cricket Super Tests and oneday games were played in April 1979 in the West Indies The 197980 season in Australia was called the peace season West Indies had never beaten Australia in an away Test series until then After the draw in the first of three Tests at Brisbane a game he missed through injury Lloyd led the West Indies to their first Frank Worrell Trophy triumph on Australian soil some scars of the 15 shellacking in 197576 disappearing The West Indies were regular visitors to Australia in the 1980s the same country which could back the twotier system along with England and India Post 197980 teams from the Caribbean figured in either Tests or onedayers or both in 198182 198384 198485 198687 with the last one for the decade being 198889Roberts told me recently that India must support the West Indiesrsquo cause in this twotier plan ldquoIndia should be standing up for the West Indies We made visits when either other countries did not want to tour or their top players pulled out We came each timerdquo he said The West Indies were the first visitors for a Test series in 194849 after the first one on Indian soil was played against Douglas Jardinersquos MCC team Gerry Alexanderrsquos side was the second West Indies team to visit India in 195859 and Garry Sobers amp Co arrived in 1966 for a threematch Test series Like in 195859 the 196667 West Indies team comprised big names like Rohan Kanhai Wes Hall Conrad Hunte and Basil Butcher England on the other hand had their share of India tour absentees In 197273 Tony Lewis who hadnrsquot played a Test was appointed captain of the MCC in the absence of Ray Illingworth who had retained the Ashes in 1972 John Snow and Geoff Boycott who figured in that series as well were not part of the tour party in IndiaThe only secondstring Test team the West Indies sent was in 197879 when their main players were part of World Series Cricket And had Joel Garner not been injured he would have joined his fast bowling mates Roberts Holding Malcolm Marshall Wayne Daniel and Winston Davis on the 198384 tour of IndiaThe West Indies have not come out smelling of roses through their Test performances They have not won a Test series for almost two years and that was against Zimbabwe in early 2023 The year 2022 was glorious with series wins over England and Bangladesh at home while their previous major triumph was when they beat England 21 at home in 2019 But despite victories being few and far between it will be a great pity if they are made to compete among the relatively new entrants at the Test level Somewhere down the line legacy should matter and West Indies are rich on that scoreTheir role in the entertainment quotient of Test cricket can never be underestimated We all enjoyed the recent India v Australia series although India could have made it look more competitive than 13 There was a time mdashin the late 1950s in Australiamdashwhen crowds were not being entertained Sir Don Bradman who was involved in cricket administration then stepped in and encouraged the Australians to play attractively The West Indies did the same and what emerged was the greatestever Test series in 196061Caribbean cricketrsquos current problems must be taken on board There are no quick fixes but lending them another helping hand would be akin to plucking a catch in a halfchance situationmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper