Rallying around the West Indies cricket team used to mean something special.
“When the West Indies famously won their first series in England, it started this interesting dynamic in England, where sports and politics were entwined with the Black community,” said Colin Benjamin, current West Indies Cricket Team Communications and PR officer.
Its peak came against a backdrop of emancipation for West Indian nations from European colonial powers. The Caribbean was also experiencing deep cultural change with the emergence of new identities, ideas, and music that reinforced national pride.
England has also seen an influx of immigration from the Caribbean between the late 1940s and early 1970s. The West Indies community that resided there faced subpar working conditions as well as racial hostilities and discrimination.
“This generation saw cricket as a vehicle to show former colonisers that they could beat them at the game they taught them. When the West Indies did well, it gave pride to British Caribbeans still dealing with racism in 1950s and 1960s England,” he added.
West Indies cricket as an identity for Caribbeans
It was culture. Heritage. Huddled around the radio as Michael Holding took out England captain Tony Grieg during that historical final test at The Oval in 1976.
Springing into action at the ring of the school bell and racing home, desperate to catch a glimpse of the Windies in action. Shoes still tied. Door unlocked.
Supporting the West Indies cricket team was not a choice for young Caribbeans, but a lifestyle. This was the case for Machel St Patrick Hewitt, co-host of The Caribbean Cricket Podcast.
“I remember the West Indies being on TV a lot when I was a kid, and I am sitting there watching it with my Dad,” said Machel. “By mission creep, it became obvious that I should care about this team.”
The West Indies cricket team soon became synonymous with the identity of a young Caribbean growing up during a time of racial adversity and economic struggle.
“I went to a school that was pretty much all white. I was one of six Black students. The West Indies at that time were important to me because they felt like a symbol of identity,” he added.
“I was born in Jamaica, my family came over [to England] when I was four. So, tying the West Indies into that, it became a connection to home. Watching them play was a reminder of where I’m from and what my cultural identity is.”
The disconnect among the Windies younger generation
While their dominance had been brewing for decades, West Indian cricket reached its peak under the captaincies of Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards.
During the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, they dominated both Test and One Day International (ODI) cricket as the strongest team in the world. Their aggressive batting style and fearsome fast-bowling attack saw them unbeaten for 15 years in Test matches from 1980 to 1995, achieving their first series win in Australia in 1979-80.
But the dominance did not continue. Since Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh retired in 2000 and 2001, respectively, several young bowlers have emerged, but none with the talent to consistently lead the attack.
Now the Windies find themselves out of favour with the game as well as young Caribbeans in Britain, who have struggled to form the same connection with the team as their elders.
“It’s not a cultural disconnect among young people. There isn’t a lack of connection with their heritage, whatever that may be. What it is a decline in is an understanding of how the West Indies team ties the Caribbean together,” Machel said.
“The West Indies team is no good. If the thing that is supposed to tie us together is not a good thing, then naturally, people are not going to connect with it. If you’re trying to get into [West Indies cricket] now, why would you? There’s nothing to hold on to.”
How inaccessibility challenges West Indies cricket
The decline of support for the Windies from young British Caribbeans is not only an issue of team success but also accessibility.
“There is no easy way to watch cricket anywhere,” Colin said. “There’s barrier after barrier. It’s an elitist sport. You didn’t go to private school, you most likely didn’t see the game, and it’s not on cable. You don’t have Sky Sports and it’s a double whammy.”
Increasing the viability and access to West Indies cricket among young people has never been more challenging, but that does not mean that opportunities are not there.
Machel started his podcast with the intent of reigniting a fire once blazing or, at the very least, demonstrating that the cultural significance of West Indies cricket still exists and is searching for that spark to set it aflame.
“We believed that it still has a cultural significance, but there just isn’t a platform to promote this significance and tie all these groups together,” Machel added.
“In terms of drawing in a new generation. It may not be over yet, but in 30 years it may be. When it’s so easy to look at the England football team and see a mixed team, which possibly represents modern British culture in terms of how diverse this nation is now. It’s easier to look at that and say that means more to me and my context.
“There are a lot of moving parts which have to change to draw people in.”
The need for cricket to adapt to modern audiences
While change is a mountain to climb, that does not mean we do not have the power to take the first step.
Dean Wilson, current Chair of the Cricket Writers’ Club, has taken that step and several more in his pursuit to encourage young people into the sport and industry.
“I felt that it’s a Club that needs a bit of modernising. I’ve been a part of that over the past couple of years in terms of what we are there for, celebrating and encouraging.
“We’re trying to increase the number of young members coming into the Club. We have made a big push on our student membership and are catering to them. We had our first student event last summer, which we wanted to offer as a networking event where students could come and ask questions,” said Dean.
But as the cogs keep turning and expectations continue to evolve, how cricket is consumed is forced to adapt with it.
“The way that media is consumed now is very different to when I started,” Dean added, “that’s the biggest shift.”
The coming of a new age
It seems so simple, doesn’t it? Modernisation.
But as Dean continues his quest to reinvent cricket for modern audiences, the small diaspora of West Indies cricket remains fixed in a singular moment in time.
“Maybe looking back on my dad’s generation. When there was independence for a lot of islands, from Jamaica to Trinidad, through to post-Windrush migration to the UK and the successful Black identity with that, maybe that was its moment in time.
“Nobody wants to engage with that argument because it poses some very difficult questions. But what if that was its moment? And its cultural significance was the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Maybe we’re in a post-colonial forging of new identities where the West Indies does not have a cultural significance in modern times,” Machel added.
Perhaps the next step for West Indies cricket is to build an entirely different staircase.
As the next generation of cricketers and supporters take centre stage, the Windies must find a way to adapt or risk being left behind.
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