West Indies cricket team


The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a men's cricket team representing the West Indies—a group of mainly English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region—and administered by Cricket West Indies. The players are selected from a chain of fifteen Caribbean nation-states and territories., the West Indies cricket team is ranked eighth in Tests, ninth in ODIs, and fifth in T20Is in the official ICC rankings.
From the mid-late 1970s to the early 1990s, the West Indies team was the strongest in the world in both Test and One Day International cricket. A number of cricketers who were considered among the best in the world have hailed from the West Indies: 21 have been inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
The West Indies have won the ICC Cricket World Cup twice, the ICC T20 World Cup twice, the ICC Champions Trophy once, the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup once, and have also finished as runners-up in the Cricket World Cup, the Under 19 Cricket World Cup, and the ICC Champions Trophy. The West Indies appeared in three consecutive World Cup finals, and were the first team to win back-to-back World Cups, both of these records have been surpassed only by Australia, who appeared in four consecutive World Cup Finals.
The West Indies have hosted the 2007 Cricket World Cup the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, and co-hosted the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup.

Member states and dependencies

The current team represents:
; Note

Affiliates in Cricket West Indies

, the governing body of the team, consists of the six cricket associations of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward Islands. The Leeward Islands Cricket Association consists of three cricket associations from two sovereign states, three British Overseas Territories, one U.S. territory, and one Dutch constituent country. The Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control consists of associations of four sovereign states.
Two more British Overseas Territories in the region that have once been historical parts of the former West Indies Federation, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands, have their own national teams currently.
National teams also exist for the various islands, which, as they are all separate countries, very much keep their local identities and support their local favourites. These national teams take part in the West Indian first-class competition, the Regional Four Day Competition. It is also common for other international teams to play the island teams for warm-up games before they take on the combined West Indies team.
The combined population of these countries and territories is around 6 million people, comparable to fellow Full Members New Zealand and Ireland, and prominent Associate Member Scotland. Between 1928 and 2022 among the 385 men to play for West Indies, 67.8% hailed from either Barbados, Jamaica or Trinidad and Tobago.
The member associations of Cricket West Indies are:
The history of the West Indies cricket team began in the 1890s, when the first representative sides were selected to play visiting English sides. The WICB joined the sport's international ruling body, the Imperial Cricket Conference, in 1926, and played their first official international match, granted Test status, in 1928, thus becoming the fourth Test 'nation'. In their early days in the 1930s, the side represented the British colonies that would later form the West Indies Federation plus British Guiana.
The last series the West Indies played before the outbreak of the Second World War was against England in 1939. There followed a hiatus that lasted until January 1948 when the MCC toured the West Indies. Of the West Indies players in that first match after the war only Gerry Gomez, George Headley, Jeffrey Stollmeyer, and Foffie Williams had previously played Test cricket. In 1948, leg spinner Wilfred Ferguson became the first West Indian bowler to take ten wickets in a Test, finishing with 11/229 in a match against England; later that same year Hines Johnson became the first West Indies fast bowler to achieve the feat, managing 10/96 against the same opponents.
The West Indies defeated England for the first time at Lord's on 29 June 1950. Ramadhin and Alf Valentine were the architects of the victory which inspired a calypso by Lord Beginner. Later on 16 August 1950, completed a 3–1 series win when they won at The Oval. Although blessed with some great players in their early days as a Test team, their successes remained sporadic until the 1960s when the side changed from a white-dominated to a black-dominated side under the successive captaincies of Frank Worrell and Gary Sobers.
The team won the inaugural World Cup in England in 1975, and successfully defended the title in 1979. By the late 1970s, the West Indies led by Clive Lloyd had a side recognised as unofficial world champions, a reputation they retained throughout the 1980s. During these glory years, the West Indies were noted for their four-man fast bowling attack, backed up by some of the best batsmen in the world. In 1976, fast bowler Michael Holding took 14/149 in the OvalTest against England, setting a record which still stands for best bowling figures in a Test by a West Indies bowler. The 1980s saw the team set a then-record streak of 11 consecutive Test victories in 1984 and inflict two 5–0 "blackwashes" on England.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, however, West Indian cricket declined, largely owing to the failure of the West Indian Cricket Board to move the game from an amateur pastime to a professional sport, coupled with the general economic decline in West Indian countries, and the team struggling to retain its past glory. Victory in the 2004 Champions Trophy and a runner-up showing in the 2006 Champions Trophy left some hopeful, but it was not until the inception of Twenty20 cricket that the West Indies began to regain a place among the cricketing elite and among cricket fans, as they developed ranks of players capable of taking over games with their power hitting, including Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, DJ Bravo, Andre Russell and Carlos Brathwaite. They beat Australia and then host Sri Lanka in the 2012 World Twenty20 to win their first ICC world championship since the 1979 World Cup and then bested England to win the 2016 World Twenty20, making them the first team to win the World Twenty20 twice. As an added bonus, the West Indies also became the first to win both the men's and women's World Twenty20 on the same day, as the women's team beat three-time defending champion Australia for their first ICC world title immediately beforehand. For the first time in the history of the tournament, the team did not qualify for the 2023 World Cup after losing to Scotland in the Super Six stage of the Qualifiers.

Flag and anthem

Most cricketing nations use their own national flags for cricketing purposes. However, as the West Indies represent a number of independent states and dependencies, there is no natural choice of flag. The WICB has, therefore, developed an insignia showing a palm tree and cricket stumps on a small sunny island. The insignia, on a maroon background, makes up the West Indian flag. The background sometimes has a white stripe above a green stripe, which is separated by a maroon stripe, passing horizontally through the middle of the background. Prior to 1999, the WICB had used a similar insignia featuring a cabbage palm tree and an island, but there were no stumps and, instead of the sun, there was the constellation Orion. It was designed in 1923 by Sir Algernon Aspinall, then Secretary of the West India Committee. Around the same time in the 1920s the suggested motto for the West Indies team was "Nec curat Orion leones", which comes from a quote by Horace, meaning that Orion, as symbolical of the West Indies XI, does not worry about the lions .
For ICC tournaments, an adapted version of "Rally 'Round the West Indies" by David Rudder is used as the team's anthem.

Venues

The following eleven stadiums have been used for at least one Test match. The number of Tests played at each venue followed by the number of One Day Internationals and twenty20 internationals played at that venue is in brackets as of 2 April 2021:
  • Queen's Park Oval – Port of Spain, Trinidad : The Queen's Park Oval has hosted more Test matches than any other ground in the Caribbean and first hosted a Test match in 1930. The ground is considered one of the most picturesque venues in the world of cricket, featuring the view Trinidad's Northern Range. It has a capacity of over 18,000.
  • Kensington Oval – Bridgetown, Barbados :Kensington Oval hosted the region's first Test match in 1930 and is recognised as the 'Mecca' of West Indies cricket. Its capacity was increased from 15,000 to 28,000 for the 2007 World Cup and down to its current capacity of 11,000 post – World Cup. It has hosted two ICC world finals – the 2007 Cricket World Cup Final, which Australia won over Sri Lanka, and the 2010 World Twenty20 Final, which England won against Australia.
  • Bourda – Georgetown, Guyana : Bourda first hosted a Test match in 1930. It was the only Test ground in South America, and the only one below sea level and with its own moat. It has a capacity of around 22,000. It is remembered for the Pitch Invasion during an April 1999, One Day International between Australia and the West Indies, with Australia needing 3 runs to tie and 4 to win off the last ball, a full scale pitch invasion, resulted in the match being deemed a tie, due to the stumps having been stolen before the West Indian team could effect a run out.
  • Sabina Park – Kingston, Jamaica : Sabina Park first hosted a Test match in 1930. The Blue Mountains, which are famed for their coffee, form the backdrop. Sabina Park played host to Garry Sobers' then world-record 365 not out. In 1998, the Test against England was abandoned here on the opening day because the pitch was too dangerous. It has a capacity of 15,000.
  • Antigua Recreation Ground – St John's, Antigua : Antigua Recreation Ground first hosted a Test in 1981. Three Test triple centuries have been scored on this ground: Chris Gayle's 317 in 2005, and Brian Lara's world record scores of 375 in 1994 and 400 not out in 2004. The historic stadium was removed from the roster of grounds hosting international matches in June 2006, to make way for the island's new cricket stadium, being constructed 3 miles outside the capital city expected to be completed in time for its hosting of matches for Cricket World Cup 2007. However, after the abandoned Test match between England and the West Indies in February 2009 at the new North Sound ground, Test cricket returned to the ARG.
  • Arnos Vale – Arnos Vale, Kingstown, St Vincent : The Arnos Vale Ground a.k.a. The Playing Fields first hosted a Test in 1997.
  • National Cricket Stadium – St George's, Grenada : Queen's Park, Grenada first hosted a Test in 2002.
  • Daren Sammy Cricket Ground – Gros Islet, St Lucia : Originally the Beauséjour Cricket Ground, first hosted a Test in 2003. It has a capacity of 12,000. This was the first stadium in the Caribbean to host a day-night cricket match. The match was between the West Indies and Zimbabwe. New Zealand was scheduled to play a test in 2014 to mark the return to Test cricket after a break of 8 years. Following the West Indies' victory in the 2016 World Twenty20, the St. Lucian government renamed the venue after captain Sammy, a native St. Lucian, with another St. Lucian – Johnson Charles – having a stand named in his honor after also being part of the 2012 and 2016 championship squads.
  • Warner Park Stadium – Basseterre, St Kitts : The Warner Park Sporting Complex hosted its first One Day International on 23 May 2006 and its first Test match on 22 June 2006. The stadium has a permanent capacity of 8,000, with provisions for temporary stands to enable the hosting figure to past 10,000.
  • Providence Stadium – Georgetown, Guyana : The Providence Stadium hosted its first One Day International on 28 March 2007 for the 2007 Cricket World Cup and its first Test match on 22 March 2008. The stadium has a permanent capacity of 15,000, and is to host Test cricket instead of Bourda.
  • Sir Vivian Richards Stadium – North Sound, Antigua : The Sir Viv Richards Stadium hosted its first One Day International on 27 March 2007 for the 2007 Cricket World Cup and its first Test match on 30 May 2008. The stadium has a permanent capacity of 10,000, and is to host Test cricket instead of the Antigua Recreation Ground.
  • Windsor Park Stadium – Roseau, Dominica : Windsor Park is another home venue for the West Indian team. Construction first started on it in 2005, and it finally opened in October 2007, too late to serve as a venue for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. It hosts first-class cricket and hosted its first Test on 6 July 2011 against India, however it held its first One Day International on 26 July 2009. It has a seating capacity of 12,000.
Three further stadia have been used for One Day Internationals, or Twenty20 Internationals but not Test matches. The number of One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals played at each venue is shown in the table below: