Cricketing received wisdom #1

"The people of the West Indies are no longer interested in cricket, now preferring basketball, athletics and/or football (delete as appropriate)."

Is this true? To an extent, maybe. Minority sports have increased in popularity in many countries in the recent past. But there are plenty of more concrete reasons for the extreme decline of the West Indies cricket team and the small crowds for many of their recent home matches. Off the top of my head:

-          inter-island rivalry;

-          supreme incompetence from the WICB, almost unparalleled in world cricket;

-          widespread poverty and institutional complacency, both leading to a lack of investment in cricket facilities compared with other test-playing countries;

-          high ticket prices;

-          ridiculous scheduling like the recent match starting at 9am to fit with optimum broadcasting times in India.

There is also the unfortunate fact that the decline is being measured from a remarkable high. Considering the relative size and wealth of the West Indies cricketing area, they vastly overachieved during their heyday, and while the sudden decline since then is more than just a reversion to the mean, there may be no intrinsic reason why the West Indies should be nearly as good again any time soon.

Unfortunately there is, of course, a feedback loop between a lack of public interest and a poor national team. It is a widely-held belief that grassroots participation and interest in cricket has been boosted in this country since 2005. If the West Indies team continues its downward trajectory, it will hardly be surprising if the prophets of doom turn out to be correct.

PS delighted to see Devendra Bishoo picking up Dravid, Dhoni and Laxman yesterday. Potentially very exciting.