West Indies Cricket

History and Origins

The first Caribbean club, St Anne's, was formed in Barbados in 1806 and soon became part of the European culture on the island through the military. But it was only in 1865 - 32 years after the abolition of slavery - that the first inter-colonial match occurred, between Barbados and Demerara, now part of Guyana. Trinidad soon joined those sides in a triangular competition, but it would only be in the latter half of the 20th Century, with the increasing availability of air travel, that such teams as Jamaica could play other islands regularly. West Indies took time to establish itself as an international side, but finally beat England in 1930, in Trinidad. Thus this game of cricket emerged in West Indies and now it had became an inevitable game in their sports department.


International competition

West Indies enjoy the distinction of winning the first World Cup, in 1975, and then retaining the trophy in the next edition, in 1979, both trophies being held in England. They are one of only two teams to have won the World Cup more than once, with Australia the other. They have also won the ICC Champions Trophy, their sole triumph coming in England in 2004. Other than these victories  West Indies failed to produce something special.But the West Indies Cricket has given us some spectacular cricketers and captains. Some of their inspiring captains are Clive Lyold, Carl Hooper,Brain Lara and Chris Gayle is the current captain of West Indies.They are placed in number 8 spot in the ICC Cricket rankings.

1975 west indies cricket team

1979 west indies cricket team
Domestic structure

There are two competitions in West Indies domestic cricket, the one-day trophy - currently known as the WICB Cup - and the Regional Four-Day Competition, which features first-class matches. The WICB Cup, formerly the KFC Cup, is run over a week of group matches, then semi-finals and a final. It is contested by nine teams in total. Six are West Indies sides - Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago being individual islands, while the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands teams, as the name suggests, each represent several islands. Three other teams, namely Canada, United States of America and Combined Campuses and Colleges, complete the pack. The Regional Four-Day Competition - which was known as the Shell Shield when introduced in 1965, and has also been called the Carib Beer Cup - comprises just the six regional West Indies teams.


All-time great

Where to start with West Indies greats  "The three Ws" - Richards, Ambrose, Walsh and Lara. One man stands above them all - Sir Garfield Sobers, who had an embarrassment of natural talent. He is in the top 10 greatest batsmen of all time, with a Test total of 8032 runs at an average of 57.78 - and he accumulated them in flowing fashion. Perhaps his most memorable innings was his 365 not out against Pakistan in 1958, a record that stood until 1994 when Brian Lara eclipsed him. Sobers also took more than 200 Test wickets and, to complete the set, he could also field anywhere.

Women's cricket

West Indies is a country steeped in deep cricket tradition and, though never as high profile as the men, the women have been a useful force since the 1970s, the time when their game started to get more serious. There were two island sides in the first World Cup in 1973 - Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica - and this was also the same decade that the women made their debut in Tests. The men's board took over the game in 2005 and, although the women didn't play internationally for three years, the domestic competition was strong enough to ensure they kept their fifth-place world ranking in the 2009 World Cup.