source
Some of their grounds are beautiful but are like time capsules with little or no investment. This wont appeal to the younger generation. This ground sums up West Indian Cricket in a nutshell. Beautiful to look at, but no money.
Over the last few decades we have seen a super power in the game of cricket disappear from the radar with the occasional win coming in the shorter formats of the game. The West Indian team used to strut and swagger around as they were the bosses of the game feared by everyone.
source
I first watched them live when Lawrence Rowe's rebel team arrived in South Africa.
Today they look like a half baked team that has been put together by a bunch of desperate selectors trying to find a rare gem of talent as the quality has left the building a long time ago. The stark reality is the sport is choking under threat from basketball from nearby in the United states.
The days of full stadiums cheering their national team in the nations number one sport as the truth is the supporters are all middle age and up. If one looks at who is attending these matches you will be hard pushed to find the youngsters cheering their heroes as they are not their heroes anymore. They have chosen another sport and any youngster over 6ft 5 is not running around with a red ball ,but bouncing a much bigger ball.
Joel "the bird" Garner, Andy Roberts, Curtley Ambrose were all extremely tall men who bowled at a rate of knots getting unheard of bounce of pitches that other bowlers couldn't. looking back at the top West Indian teams they had very fast bowlers and at least one giant of a man who bowled from heights others could only dream of.
Today the West Indians are more of a show piece of what they were and only seem to be able to compete in the shorter phases of the game. Test cricket is dying a slow death in the Caribbean Islands as they slip further down the world rankings. Success generates interest and until they can find another Lara or another Ambrose or Marshall the sport will slowly disappear altogether.
The youngsters are not interested in running around playing a sport that has been very badly managed by the top brass and with pay disputes it has only been in the news for the wrong reasons. Basketball has been marketed as the new way out where players can make a fortune from doing something that takes a fraction of the time. A game doesn't last 5 days and the pay is a 1000 times better.
World Cricket has a problem on it's hands and should have gotten involved promoting and helping the sport stay alive. It is a sad day when a West Indian team arrives on your shores and we all know they don't stand a chance of winning.