The great West Indian batting drought

The 21st century in West Indies cricket is a tale of a complete lack of batters who can make international runs.

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The West Indies are bad at cricket again. And so, for the millionth time, it seems we are being told that the legends can help fix this. But I want to make a little timeline for everyone on this.

In 2006, Clive Lloyd came on as the team manager for the West Indies for the Champions Trophy, and they made the final of that edition. So you would have to say, that was a success.

Lloyd is unquestionably one of the greatest cricketers that West Indies have ever had. He was this incredibly powerful left-hander from Guyana, just huge and hitting the ball really hard, and then became the architect of what is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, team to have ever existed in the world.

So when they’re looking for legends because they’re struggling, of course they turn to him. Since West Indies made the final of the 2006 Champions Trophy, Lloyd sticks around. Sadly, West Indies don’t stay as good as they are in the 2006 edition. They kind of go back to normal, or at least the new normal.

So in 2010, they make a different decision. Joel Garner comes in as the manager. Now, anyone who’s ever been on this channel would know that I think Garner is one of the greatest bowlers to have ever lived. He’s probably in the top handful of ODI bowlers ever, and I think he’s massively underestimated as a Test bowler as well.

But he does not change their fortunes.

So in 2011, Richie Richardson comes in. Most people would know him more as a match referee. But he was a fantastic player, and perhaps the last batter who truly just didn’t wear a helmet all that often. Brilliant player of the short ball, had a bit of a dip towards the end of his career, but at one stage looked like he was on the true path to greatness. Also, captain of the West Indies right up until the point they were beaten by Australia.

In 2014, Curtly Ambrose comes in as bowling coach. Again, one of the greatest bowlers ever. Maybe a better Test bowler than a one-day bowler. But he was great at both, and an absolute force all the way through the 1990s. It’s not just him though, because Lloyd comes back again. This time, instead of being the manager, he’s the selector. So you have two legends available to them in 2014.

There’s actually a little bit of a lull after that, but I’ve put Desmond Haynes’ name in, because in 2018, Viv Richards asked for him to be the head coach. Haynes is one of the people who pioneered the anchor role. He was part of one of the greatest opening Test partnerships ever with Gordon Greenidge. Again, absolute dead set legend. He doesn’t get the head coaching job in 2018.

However, in 2022, he does become chief selector, so West Indies get another legend involved with their national side.

In 2024, they bring in another one. Darren Sammy is a World Cup winning captain over a couple of different campaigns, and he’s probably the first modern legend. To be honest, they don’t have many to pick from, but he’s certainly someone who was very well-known and very well respected, and also partly got the job because he’s Darren Sammy.

This year, they’ve been absolutely awful - albeit against two fantastic teams in Australia and India. And so there are calls again for a new change.

So now we see Brian Lara on a committee to help fix West Indian cricket. Lara, of course, is one of the greatest batters of all time. We have him firmly within our top 10 in The Art of Batting. He’s also a very underrated white-ball player. He holds the world records for the highest scores in first-class cricket and Test cricket. Just an absolute, other level, genius.

So they’ve had a two-time World Cup winning captain. They’ve had one of the greatest openers across two formats. One of the greatest bowlers ever, and one of the other greatest bowlers ever. And they’ve had a former successful captain who is a pretty good player himself, and of course, the architect of what the West Indies actually went on to be.

All of these people have been involved at different times with West Indies cricket, and at no time have they got better.

The question you have to ask yourself has to be: if West Indies’ legends could have fixed the West Indies cricket team, wouldn’t they have done it by now?