The Evolution of the Maroon Brigade

Ravi Reddy from Cricket Fanatics Magazine looks at the West Indies limited overs success in the 21st century

The West Indies cricket team has been nothing short of an enigma.

Riddled with player disputes and board mismanagement for a large part of the last 20 years it’s a miracle that they have managed to add two World T20 championships and an ICC Champions Trophy in addition to their World Cup triumphs in the 70s.

The Carribean has for many decades provided highly skilled Test and ODI talents. However since the late 1990s, the cricket watching public has seen a steadfast decline in the quality of cricket. Perhaps most traumatizing was witnessing the 5–0 drumming by South Africa, aptly termed the “Whitewash” series in the 98/99 season. Followed by similar treatment courtesy of Steve Waugh’s Australian chargers in 2000/01 series.

However a game changer for the West Indies came in the form of the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy, where a robustly talented West Indian team entered the final as the underdogs against the host nation England. The West Indies bowled first, to a rampant English batting order consisting of an in-form Marcus Trescothick, Freddie Flintoff and Andrew Strauss. “Tres” carried his bat through the innings scoring 104 in a meagre team total of 217.

Despite the small target the West Indies made a meal of the chase losing the first five wickets for 80 runs. With over 20 overs to go and the score at 147/8 an English victory seemed a certainty.

However, the tailenders wicketkeeper Courtney Browne and left arm seamer Ian Bradshaw managed to secure a 71 run partnership, humiliating the hosts. This set the tone for many accolades in years to come. 

Unlike 2004, the 2006 edition of the ICC champions trophy saw the West Indies start as recognized dark horses. With Brian Lara once again taking the role of skipper, aided and abetted by talented youth in the form of Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Jerome Taylor and Ramnaresh Sarwan, the West Indies were considered an even match for Ricky Ponting’s chargers in the final.

Alas, the Windies in lieu of their “hot and cold” approach to cricket, crumbled in the space of 2.5 hours scoring a meager 138. The canary yellows of course reached the target comfortably.

This was certainly not the end of the West Indies, as a distinct culture of winning tournaments under strained circumstances became a common feature. Later years would see them take their “hot and cold” approach to playing cricket in the T20 arena.

Champions in 2012

The West Indies are the only team to win the ICC T20 World Cup twice. First winning in 2012 under the tutelage of Ottis Gibson following up with a second victory under the tenure of current coach Phil Simmons in 2016.

There have been a number of variables that contributed to the West Indies success in the shortest format:

• The inaugural IPL 2008

• Stanford 20/20 series: Windies vs England

• The IPL champions league trophy 2009 – Rise of Kieron Pollard

• The adherence to a core set of players

• Defying the odds

The first edition of the IPL saw mass attraction and intrigue. The tournament was positioned as an amalgamation of world cricket coupled with Amercianised marketing and the glamour of Bollywood all rolled into one microcosm.

This also saw the dispersion of many West Indians playing for multiple franchises such as Gayle at Royal Challengers Bangalore and Bravo at Chennai  Super Kings. In latter years, Pollard would become a Goliath for the Mumbai Indians as well as Narine and Russell for Kolkata Knight Riders.

In the same year, Allan Stanford, notorious billionaire mogul was based in Antigua. His passion for cricket came from living in the Carribean island for over 20 years and he wanted to invest back into the game. He convinced the ECB, the WICB and the ICC that a “winner takes all” event was what the game of cricket needed, especially in the economically disadvantaged Caribbean.

The event would later be re-titled as the “Stanford Super Series” where England’s best would take on the best players from the West Indies conveniently renamed the “Stanford Superstars”. The winning team would take home $20 million USD and the loser would go home with nothing.

Remember this….?

The makeshift Windies team trounced the English visitors convincingly. They did so by means of preparation. They had an intensive six week cricket camp where the likes of Viv Richards, Courtney Walsh, Curtley Ambrose were integral in the team’s development. This clearly had a long term positive impact on the team and resulted in major dividends over the coming years.

Fast forward a year later, in 2009, the BCCI decided to invite championship teams from various cricketing nations to play in a similar T20 competition. Here we saw the likes of the Cape Cobras, Trinidad and Tobago and Perth Scorchers join the tournament. It was here that a few more discoveries would be made, namely that of Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree and Adrian Barath. Pollard at the time was a relatively unknown West Indian all-rounder who made a few appearances for the senior team.

It was in India that Pollard was in his element winning multiple man of the match awards. Pollard’s performances resulted in a call up for the West Indies T20 team and subsequently a contract with Mumbai Indians in the 2010 edition of the IPL. 

The West Indies, while unpredictable at times had six core players for their T20 setup. This core group included Gayle, Bravo, Pollard, Narine, Samuels and Sammy. During the period of success, the team would also become synonymous with the inclusion of Andre Russell, Ravi Rampaul and Samuel Badree.

These players would remain tied with the T20 international format in spite of the many challenges posed by the WICB and its former Chairman, Dave Cameron. 

Rally

One of the common words used in the West Indies anthem is the term “Rally”. This couldn’t be closer to the case than in the 2016 T20 World Cup campaign.

Embarrassingly the West Indies team arrived in India without their equipment and kit and embroiled in a pay dispute. The team manager at the time, Rawl Lewis, was uncertain as to where the team would be accommodated for the first night. Yet, by the end of the tournament the team made it to yet another world final, winning courtesy of Carlos ‘Remember the name’ Braithwaite. 

While riddled in controversy, the West Indies have more often than not delivered against the odds and proved to be one of the most entertaining team in World Cups.

The 2020 T20 World Cup may have been postponed but who would dare bet against the men in maroon come 2021?

Article edited by Machel St Patrick Hewitt

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