I know 83 is an important movie and all, but please remind young youths of today that the greatness of that WI team wasn't in winning a couple of ICC tournaments, but going 16 years, 30 test series, without losing a single test series. In a VERY competitive era in the sport.
https://twitter.com/KhasnisVinay/status/1475358336010764288
I think of West Indies' wins in 1975 and 1979 as... Nice. Cute. It's their test record that makes you go whoaaaaaaa!
When future generations look back at Virat Kohli's record, they won't care about random "ICC silverware". It's the test triumphs that endure. Fifty years later, they'll find it funny that any Indian captains before him were considered even comparable to him in tests.
We don't talk about how astonishing it is that the West Indies did not lose a single test series in the 1980s. What team in what sport has gone an entire decade (and a busy decade, not a war hit decade) undefeated?
"That 1970/80s WI team was the scariest ever to take the field" is a sentiment uttered as effusive praise by many cricket fans.
But West Indians themselves are not a fan of the compliment BTW. And until a couple of Jamaican friends explained it, I had never even thought of that.
But West Indians themselves are not a fan of the compliment BTW. And until a couple of Jamaican friends explained it, I had never even thought of that.
They would rather you say they were the best team, the most dominant team, the most successful team, even the most intimidating team. But what is "scary" exactly? It's the conscious and subconscious anti-black prejudice and tropes. Lillee, Imran hit more heads BTW.
And they are right. I grew up in the 80s. I remember the blackness of the players being mentioned liberally in how "scary" the West Indies team were. Especially when there was talk of sending 15 y.o. Sachin there for a debut. Like poor kid will get traumatized by "those people".
Sachin eventually made his debut against Imran, Wasim, Waqar, which as far as pace bowling scariness goes, at that time, probably just a notch above Marshall-Ambrose-Bishop. But West Indians got called "scary" regularly. And given their history, not a great compliment.
Ah yes, also this. West Indies were already a rampant dominant team in 1976. Tony Greig's grovel comment did rankle them because of the racial colonial subtext & his apartheid connections. But they were already the best team in the world then.
https://twitter.com/debayansen/status/1475366698727272449?s=20
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