00:00There was a time when the world feared the West Indies cricket team.
00:06Under the astute leadership of Clive Lloyd,
00:08the Caribbean Giants won the inaugural ODI World Cup in 1975
00:12and retained the title in 1979.
00:14And it goes to this magnificent cricketer.
00:17They even made it to a third straight final in 1983
00:20but surrendered the trophy to Couple Dave's Indian team.
00:23The men in Maroon dominated Tusk cricket as well
00:26with Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner
00:30just to name a few bringing smiles to the faces of West Indian fans.
00:34But things started going downhill for the West Indies
00:37after a 2-1 Test Series loss at home to Australia in 1995.
00:41They have now become whipping boys
00:44which means the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy winners
00:47and the 2012 and 2016 T20 World Cup champions are no longer respected by many.
00:54The West Indies have five ICC titles
00:57which is more than what Test Nations England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka possess
01:03with Bangladesh still on zero.
01:06But guess what?
01:07There are calls for the Caribbean islands to go their own separate ways.
01:11That's because the pain has become unbearable for fans in this part of the world
01:15following the team's dismal showing for three decades.
01:19One man who is clearly unhappy with the current state of West Indies cricket
01:23is former CWI director Baldat Mahabir.
01:26Despite the Patterson report, the Wilkins report, the Barito report, the Webby report
01:33nothing concrete has come out of those reports.
01:37So we can safely say that the West Indies cricket board will not self-correct.
01:42So if it will not self-correct, what is the other option or what are the other options?
01:48The other option is for the, one of the other options is for the territories to go separate ways,
01:54the 16 territories that form the West Indies cricket board.
01:58The West Indies failed to qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup in India
02:03and also missed out on the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy held in Pakistan and the UAE.
02:09They were also bowled out for 27 in the second innings of the day-night test
02:13against Australia in Jamaica earlier this year, making it a 3-0 sweep in favour of the men from down under.
02:19And the latest to that list was the ignominious 2-1 loss to Nepal in a bilateral T20 series in Georgia in September.
02:27Mahabir is fully aware that not all the islands are highly populated,
02:31which makes it difficult for them to form their own national team.
02:35Some of these islands, some of these countries will not be able to make it on its own.
02:40So there may be a room here for negotiation, something like winwards and leewards form their get-together and apply to ICC.
02:49And then the bigger islands, Trinidad, Barbados, Jamaica and Ghana, which is not an island but a country.
02:57And they go their separate ways and climb up the ladder of ICC.
03:02Many have often asked the question, what's the reason for the downfall of West Indies cricket?
03:08The answers often given are substandard pitches, mediocre regional tournaments, players gravitating towards franchise cricket, etc.
03:17But there might be more to it.
03:20The board does not have the propensity for change, it has not shown the willingness to adapt.
03:24It has been using the same systems and the same structure that is clearly not going to take us anywhere forward in the future.
03:33Mahabir says it's extremely painful for him to watch the West Indies play cricket or even read articles about the men in Maroon.
03:41In a subsequent sportscast, Mahabir gives his views on what next should West Indies cricket be disbanded.
03:48There are no alternatives to export.
03:51Probably some gloves as well.
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