Is The Caribbean Swagger Back To Dominate World Cricket?

They are the new kings of Twenty20, and could remain so for a while, but this coronation will not lead to a grand Caribbean resurgence across formats

- Andrew Miller

As Marlon Samuels swaggered into the media conference room at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, still clad in his pads and with a massive gold winner’s medal around his neck, he swung his legs up onto the table and demanded respect from all who had dissed him.

As Darren Sammy, West Indies captain, prepared to mount the podium to claim the World T20 trophy for the second time in three editions, he first unleashed a speech that read like a glorious insurrection, accusing the West Indies Cricket Board of deserting his team of champions.

As the Windies players cavorted through the stadium—before, during and after the pulsating final, and then long into the night at the team hotel— it was clear we were witnessing the zenith of international cricket’s first T20 dynasty. But was it the beginning of something beautiful or simply the end of an improbable journey?

All tournament long, the West Indies have danced to their own beat, not that of cricket’s prevailing rhythms —quite literally so in the case of their victory anthem, Champion—and they have, to a man, dedicated their wins to the West Indies people, whose devotion to their sport has been tested beyond measure by the collapse of standards in governance and competence at both regional and international level.

And yet, in light of what they have achieved, and as sacrilegious as it may seem, players such as Sammy, Gayle, Samuels and Russell have earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as Lloyd, Richards, Greenidge and Roberts. The first West Indies team to claim two major one-day trophies in the space of four years, in 1975 and 1979, is also recalled as one of the greatest sporting teams of all time; an outfit with the skill and swagger to explode preconceptions about what their island nations could achieve.