West Indies cricket has fallen a long way

Witnessing the once unconquerable West Indies crash to a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Pakistan in the Fortune Cup in Abu Dhabi was heartbreaking for some.

Ardent cricket fans who witnessed the might of West Indies at their peak will be able to identify with the pain of the team's fans.

Way back in the seventies and eighties, it was the West Indies dictating terms. Their victory was always a foregone conclusion.

In fact, what mattered was the margin of victory. The stronger the team, the more they wanted to thrash them.

Walking in to report on a West Indies match used to be a special feeling in itself. Images of Malcolm Marshall charging in at the batsman with his angular run up along with Michael Holding's smooth approach and delivery can never be wiped from the memory.

It was tough to find anyone capable of dominating the towering Joel Garner and Courtney Ambrose.

So much so that it was thrilling to watch them make the batsmen tremble and uproot their wicket with sheer pace.

As of today, this team does not have even one bowler intimidate, nevermind making their stumps fly.

Year after year they had batsmen who went on to become legends of the game.

But when their players were busy winning match after match and covering themselves with glory, the board officials relaxed, basking in their players' glory.

They never bothered to nurture talent from the grass root level and hardly marketed the game. They expected the greatness to continue without any help.

When the greats began to retire, there was no-one worthy of stepping into their shoes. The standard of domestic cricket in the West Indies crashed to abysmal levels.

Former West Indies skipper Alvin Kallicharan once said: "In the West Indies, spectators now walk out of a cricket match to watch football. There are no exciting players any more in the game."

In Abu Dhabi, it was pitiable to see this mighty team depend totally on the last of their three great batsmen - Chris Gayle, Ramanaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

All that Pakistan had to do was dismiss these three to win the match.

Their last legend Brian Lara retired during the last World Cup. Gayle, Sarwan and Chanderpaul do not have many years ahead of them and it is frightening to imagine the standard of West Indies after their exit.

Very soon spectators will desert this team, which was once a crowd puller around the world.