The rise and fall of an empire

A special feature by Karthik Narayan

A brief history of time tells us that an empire is built and nurtured over a period of time – time that ticks from left to right. Let me take you 30 or more years down in time on the cricket field, sans the Telly rights scandals and the television itself! Timelines will show that this was the rise of an empire of “vampires” set out to suck out the energy levels of the opposition and make them subjugated to their will.

And there were giants, yes, giants in their own rights and with the physique of a toughie, they would walk in and off the cricket field with the nonchalance of a purist enjoyer and yet with the professional kill-‘em attitude. Yes – those Black Magic exponents of the Curse of the Caribbean's!

Right from the days of yore, when Christopher Columbus found “America”, the Caribbeans have always been a power packed unit, it seems. Right from the W’s who ruled the game of batsmanship for many years to the Wes Halls, the Andy Roberts and why not? They came in huge numbers and in an unlimited supply. A never-ending supply of matchwinners is the dream series of any sport.

An all conquering spree began when cricket started in this little island country, and immediately they set out to scorch the world with their wits and carefree attitude always marching towards victory with the ease of a Hawaiian holiday tourist. Everywhere they went, the opposition sat up and saluted them, and naturally that was the reason why they were once dubbed the INVINCIBLES.

When they stamped their arrival in the 1975 world cup, everybody became more aware of the class and the command that this team could generate for themselves with hardcore cricket at its best. On song, they carried with them the world cup, already having become the undisputed world champs now with that solid display of unbreakable string of success. Those only champions could have shown!

And then again, they continued their free willy spree of each and every test playing nation, and when ODI cricket was born with that killer attitude that the winner takes all – along came the second world cup and the West Indians were ready with their skills and raw potent force to impose their impressive wins – unbeaten runs, until after that one starry day-light robbery by Kapil’s Devils in 1983.

If it was Wes Hall and Roberts, Clive Lloyd before, the Vivian Richards, Gus Logie, Patterson, Walsh and Ambroses took over thereafter. And what will the middle eighties the West Indies were mighty! Mighty strong and witty off the field too…

The last of the Mohicans were Ambrose, Walsh and Carl Hooper. Those were the last of the pack, that pack had to get packed off eventually owing to age factors and the young brigade came to fore. Sadly, the young brigade has been rather tame compared to their giant forefathers. They lack that spirit and the fire that the earlier generation had possessed. Not only has the size of the “Giants” have come down, they have also become a lot less known for their on-field exploits.

Lara seems the only batsmen to be called world class and maybe the odd Sarwan and the little Gayle forces now and then provide some solace. Sadly Chandrapaul is not a great performer outside his country – his mass appeal has been in the country. Sadly, the numbers have shrunk down to a handful of consistent performers who spell doom in the hearts of many and bring joy to all of us following this great game.

In the bowling department, nobody really seems to impress; the image of fast bowlers from this very string of islands which reported great fast bowlers have been cut down to size where they cannot name one tall mean fast bowler who is capable of ripping any batting attack to pieces. Now the Caribbean's have made a mess of their own empire and slowly the ages have corrupted the entire empire to small bits and pieces players.

Maybe then the time has come to look ahead and plan the resources. Where have all the fast bowlers who have terrorized the batsmen gone? There hasn’t been a batsman capable of playing spin bowling other than Lara, Sarwan and Chanderpaul. There hasn’t been a reported case of an able spinner in the West Indies squad in ages – not since Carl Hooper bowled his fastish off breaks, and now Gayle follows his footsteps.

Time has come for lifting the Curse of the Caribbean's from upon themselves – time for the authorities and the sports bodies to lift the evil that surrounds themselves and look beyond the next one year and onwards the world cup 2007. I wonder if at all Lara will be around, the way the row over the money distributions and the endorsements goes.

All this has symbolized a Mighty Empire to crumble simply just like that – a force that has been storming the oceans of cricket has subsided into a calm. But is it the calm before a storm? Let us hope so!