The West Indies cricket team, once the undisputed kings of the red-ball game, now finds itself mired in a crisis that runs deeper than mere results on the pitch. With the echoes of past glories still resounding in the cricketing world, the team’s struggles were brought into sharp focus this week as head coach Darren Sammy delivered a powerful, candid assessment of the decline of Test cricket in the Caribbean. His words, delivered ahead of the second Test against India, cut to the heart of what ails West Indies cricket: a legacy of systemic issues, financial imbalance, and a waning sense of national pride among players.
It’s been a long fall from the heights of the 1980s and early 1990s, when the Men in Maroon dominated the sport, going unbeaten in Test series for 15 years. Sammy, speaking with evident emotion, reminded all of just how enduring the drought has been. “I mean, the last time we won a series here in India, I was just born. My mom had just had me, in 1983. So the troubles that we have didn’t start now. In 1983, some great players were playing. So I know now I’m under the microscope, I’m in the middle, and we’re open to being criticised by everybody. But the root of the problem didn’t start two years ago. Something way back.”
That historical perspective is crucial. The West Indies’ current plight isn’t just the result of a bad run of form or a few unlucky breaks. Sammy likened the situation to a disease that has gone untreated for too long. “It’s like a cancer that’s already in the system. And you know, if you don’t beat cancer, you know what happens. And again, I think it’s Breast Cancer [Awareness] Month, so it’s a good way to put it, that our problems don’t lie on the surface. It’s rooted deep into our system. And that is something we will continue to change.”
The numbers from recent matches are grim. In the first Test against India at Ahmedabad, the West Indies lasted just 90 overs with the bat, losing 20 wickets in the process—an innings defeat that followed a summer of similar disappointments against Australia. In July at Sabina Park, Australia bowled them out in under 15 overs during the third Test. The team’s struggles have not been limited to the longest format: a three-day T20 series loss to Nepal and a humiliating 27 all-out, the second-lowest total in Test history, have only deepened the sense of crisis.
These results prompted an emergency summit in Trinidad, where cricketing legends Brian Lara, Viv Richards, and Clive Lloyd joined Cricket West Indies president Kishore Shallow to chart a way forward. The two-day meeting produced a mix of immediate actions—like recruiting an international batting coach and appointing a full-time sports psychologist—and long-term plans, including a unified development framework and a call for fairer revenue sharing from the ICC. The hope is that such measures can begin to address the structural problems that have hamstrung the team for decades.
Sammy’s diagnosis goes beyond tactics and training. He points to a financial imbalance dating back to the team’s heyday, when the West Indies were touring giants but failed to reap the commercial rewards that now fuel the game. “Look, [it’s] the history we bring, or the history we have, and the legacy we have left on this game in all formats. Obviously the way we play now, everybody will lean towards that. But if we take that aside, and understand the impact that the West Indies team have had in international cricket, I think all what we ask for, we deserve.”
He continued, “We were playing five Test matches, three-four months in one place, entertaining the world, where other parts benefited. So for now, when we, over the years, whether it be through lack of management, whatever it is, we are in need of those financial resources to help us grow and move forward, I think we deserve that. Because of the impact we’ve had.”
The lack of reinvestment during the golden years has left the current generation with limited resources, outdated infrastructure, and an exodus of talent to global franchise leagues. The likes of Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Nicholas Pooran have chosen the lucrative path of T20 cricket, while Test stalwarts like Jason Holder have been absent from the format for over a year. The team has managed only 14 centuries in the last 43 Tests, and even promising talents like Alick Athanaze and Tagenarine Chanderpaul have struggled to produce consistent performances.
Sammy doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities. “We could only work with what we have and who’s willing. The inability to match some of the franchises across the world has been an issue. But what I always tell these guys, if we complain about not having the best facilities, not having enough manpower like the other teams, not having the best technology, all these things which the other teams are superior to us, it’s no secret.”
He’s even more direct about what needs to change: “But what I always tell these guys [is], if we complain about not having the best facilities, not having enough manpower like the other teams, not having the best technology, all these things which the other teams are superior to us [in], then why the hell are they still outworking us? The only way we could match up [and] compete at a consistent level is if we as the coaches and the players are prepared to outwork the opposition, and we’re not doing that.”
That work ethic, he insists, is non-negotiable. “You don’t need talent to work hard. You don’t need talent to be motivated. It’s not a skill. The skill you need is to go and play. But the mindset. That’s what it takes. And I’m trying to continue to instil that in the guys.”
Sammy’s tenure as head coach, which began in April, has been marked by an unforgiving schedule—series against Australia, India, and New Zealand, with little time for experimentation or gradual rebuilding. He’s tried to assemble the most consistent batting group possible, but the results have yet to materialize. Still, he remains committed to the process: “Hopefully the guys who’ve gotten the opportunities [will start performing]. If it doesn’t work, obviously I’ve got to go back and see what’s there in the Caribbean. But again for me, dealing with all of that is just trusting the process. And don’t look at the result before the process has been executed.”
Perhaps most telling is the shift in how players view a call-up to the Test side. “For me as a coach, when I call a player and I tell him that he has been selected for West Indies, and I’m hoping that he accepts the selection, that tells us where our cricket is.” The allure of franchise riches and the hero status of T20 stars have supplanted the old dream of Test glory. Sammy asks his players, “Which kid in the Caribbean is watching you, and you are inspiring?”
As the West Indies prepare for the next Test, the task ahead is daunting. There are no quick fixes—only the hard work of rebuilding a system, a culture, and a sense of purpose. But if Sammy’s words and the urgency of recent actions are any indication, the fight to revive Caribbean Test cricket has well and truly begun. For now, the Men in Maroon must dig deep, outwork the opposition, and strive to become the heroes that future generations will once again want to emulate.