The story of West Indies cricket could once be summed up in two words.
Calypso cricket referred to the joyful, carefree way in which the West Indies of the 1960s played, a reflection of island chill and beach parties, epitomised by flamboyant batting. Talented, entertaining, but also associated with losing.
Clive Lloyd didn’t like that term one bit. Humiliated by Australia on the pitch in a 5-1 series defeat in 1975-76 and off it through racism, Lloyd felt the idea of calypso cricket meant nobody took West Indies seriously. The great captain had had enough of that.
Lloyd masterminded the West Indies’ reign over cricket for the next two decades, with four-pronged pace attacks and dominating batsmen; Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall would tear through batting lineups with fierce, lethal fast bowling, while Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, and Viv Richards would bat not to be entertaining but to be dominant and fearless. The ‘Fire in Babylon’ – the title of one the finest documentaries on West Indies’ golden era – was raging.
But the reign ended, West Indies cricket fell into ruin, and calypso cricket returned. That’s about to change. Again.
Humiliated in Barbados, Destroyed in Antigua
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) February 2, 2019
England fail to conquer West Indies once again
Jason Holder and his warriors regain the Wisden Trophy after a span of 10 years#WIvENG pic.twitter.com/DLF5Dsv1KF
It’s not often in recent times that West Indies have welcomed a side ranked as high as No 3 in the world, with ambitions to go even higher, and pulverised them.
Though when the touring side in question is England, the events of the last two weeks become slightly less surprising.
England have a history of being dismissive towards the West Indies – their captain in 1976, Tony Greig famously said he would make Lloyd’s side grovel; in 2015, then-England Cricket Board chairman Colin Graves called their hosts mediocre, and heading into the ongoing tour, former opening batsman Geoffrey Boycott said this West Indies team was full of “ordinary, average cricketers”.
They also have a history of losing. They’ve had just one series win in the West Indies in the last 50 years, and that came in 2004 – 15 years before Joe Root‘s side showed up to take on an ‘ordinary, average side’.
Jason Holder’s men destroyed England in the first Test in Barbados, bowling them out for 77 in their first innings, setting them a mammoth, almost humiliatingly large target of 628 runs, and wrapping up a 381-run victory in due course.
‘Flash in the pan’ has been West Indies’ calling card in the 2000s. They chased down 322 to win a thrilling game at Headingley in 2017 and level the series in their tour of England; since then, their only series wins came against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Stunning England once was impressive, but could they back it up?
It took less than three days of the second Test for Holder and company to answer. England bowled out for 187 and 132 in Antigua, a 10-wicket win, 2-0 series lead. 3-0 is a real possibility heading into St Lucia next week.
@WICB_cricket triumphed in this series because they were better in all aspects. Pitches aside, tactically and technically better than us. End of. Well played Jason Holder and his team. Same demeanor as Clive Lloyd
— Dean Headley (@deanheadley585) February 3, 2019
And it was done in classic West Indies fashion. Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach, and Alzarri Joseph had England’s batsman hopping around, and Holder’s unerring accuracy completed the latest pace quartet.
England wicketkeeper Ben Foakes was sent to the hospital with a feared fracture. Root’s wicket was picked up by rapping him on the gloves in the first innings, then cutting him half and taking an inside edge in the second.
Toes were crushed, helmets were hit, stumps were splayed. The West Indian way.
West Indies have had their false dawns. This feels different. This team has Darren Bravo, known for his elegant, Brian Lara-esque batting, who in the most recent season of the Caribbean Premier League frequently batted at strike rates of 200 or even 300, but who on Friday and Saturday played out 216 balls for a hard-fought 50, crushing England’s hopes.
It has Shai Hope and Kraigg Brathwaite, heroes of that Headingley win. Hope is as easy on the eye as any international batsman. Brathwaite – much like the obdurate Shivnarine Chanderpaul – played out 156 balls for his first-innings 49 in the second Test.
It has Shimron Hetmeyer, who hit an aggressive 81 with wickets tumbling in the first innings in Barbados, and John Campbell, who made 47 off 118 in the first innings at Antigua, then finished off the match by hitting James Anderson for six.
It has Roston Chase, a batsman with four centuries to his name whose off-spin snared a stunning eight England wickets in the second innings in Barbados.
It has Holder, No 1 all-rounder in the world, who leads the side in batting and bowling average since October 2016, scored a second-innings double century to grind England into dust in the first Test, and just for good measure, is also Captain Fantastic.
And most importantly, it has that pace attack. Gabriel’s Dale Steyn-like mix of speed and accuracy, Roach’s relentlessness, Joseph’s fiery pace – on Saturday delivered in the aftermath of the heartbreaking news that his mother had died. Holder’s nagging swing and seam.
Roach, Gabriel, Alzarri, Holder. Windies' best pace attack in the post-Walsh era? Has to be up there if not the best.
— - (@omairraslam) February 2, 2019
It has a reignited the Fire in Babylon.
