West Indies team for World Cup 2019: Gale force once, huffing and puffing now!
The HinduIt has been 44 long years since Clive Lloyd lifted the inaugural World Cup trophy. Four years later, the West Indians arrived for the World Cup in England with renewed swagger oozing through their charismatic skipper Lloyd and the macho Richards. The British had taught us the game, and the only way to measure ourselves against them was to beat them.” With the West Indies batting first yet again after losing the toss, Richards punished the English bowlers with a masterful unbeaten 138 that took the game out of England’s reach. With back-to-back titles in the first two World Cups, the invincible West Indies was stunned by 66-1 tournament odds India in the 1983 final — one of the biggest upsets ever. Producing talented cricketers was not a problem — the region churned out world-class talents such as Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Brian Lara, Richie Richardson, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle — but a semi-final appearance in 1996 was the West Indies’ best showing after the 1983 final.