Whenever Australia and the West Indies take to the cricket field in a Test tour the players involved are following in the footsteps of some of the greatest in the game.
From the early days of Sir Frank Worrell and Richie Benaud through Clive Lloyd, Sir Vivian Richards, Dennis Lillee, Sir Garfield Sobers to the recent greats such as Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne – Australia and the West Indies have shared a great cricket history.
But the 2012 tour features a West Indies team that is a pale imitation of the great outfits from the past tackling an Australian side now rebuilding after the retirements of several of their own legends in recent years.
Australia’s decline, though, shouldn’t be as steep or as long-lasting as that experienced by the West Indies in the mid-90s, from what Windies great Lance Gibbs has seen.
The Ashes humiliation in the summer of 2010-11 looks the likely nadir of Australia’s fall with Michael Clarke dragging his new-look team through successful tours of Sri Lanka and South Africa as well as the home series against New Zealand and India.
Gibbs, one of the greatest spin bowlers in Test history and a key part of the Windies outfit during the 1960s, has been impressed by the way Clarke has handled the leadership and feels Australia have dealt with the loss of champions such as McGrath, Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden much better than the Windies did when their stars left the game.
“You’ve lost some of your great players and you’ve lost them in a hurry,” Gibbs told AAP.
“McGrath, Warne, Hayden – quite a few.
“You certainly did handle losing those players better than when we lost ours because you’ve had your academy and your nursery to bring your fellas on which is something that we’ve been lacking for years.”
A cousin of legendary captain Lloyd, Gibbs was the second man in history to take 300 Test wickets – and the first spin bowler – eventually finishing with 309 scalps from 79 matches.
His career coincided with the Windies forging their intense but respectful rivalry with Australia under Worrell and Benaud.
“During my period and Clive’s period the two most competitive teams were Australia and the West Indies and it continued for quite a while,” the 77-year-old said.
“Even now when Australia’s in the West Indies or vice versa you get big crowds.
“The camaraderie between the Australians and West Indians has always been prominent. That went on for a number of years.
“Even now, with the Twenty20 as it is, you still have fellas from the Caribbean going out to Australia.”
Gibbs believes Australia’s respect for cricket’s history and their former players has ensured they wouldn’t fall as far or as hard as the West Indies did following their period on top of the world.
He says the West Indies board hasn’t done enough to ensure he and other legends such as Lloyd or Richards are allowed to pass on their knowledge and experience to the modern generation.
“We try to help and improve it,” he said.
“Sometimes the board doesn’t have much faith in some of the former players which is quite unlike Australia.
“I don’t think they know a lot about the former players. I would come for example to St Vincent as a spin bowler who held the world record but hardly any of the spin bowlers would come and ask me anything.
“The history of the game, they don’t seem to know a lot about it.
“We’re missing out on it because we’re not Australians. Australia would look after Australia. We come from different islands in the Caribbean … when you come together it’s always been a little difficult.
“Worrell was able to bind us together. Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards were able to bind us together.
“You can see people saying things about young (Darren) Sammy for example, that he shouldn’t be in the team, this, that and the other.
“It’s that type of influence that seems to affect the team in general.”
