Windies Pace Attack Only Shining Armour In Otherwise Dismal State Of Caribbean Cricket

Over the last couple of seasons, if there is one positive which has come out of the otherwise dismal state of affairs in Caribbean cricket is undoubtedly  the resurgence of the Windies pace bowling unit.

West Indies were hailed as the Kings of International cricket as they dominated all forms of the game during the 70s and 80s. The ''Calypso Kings' were a notch above the rest during the peaks of their prowess as they had a galaxy of match winners both with the willow and red cherry. While the batting had great stroke-makers in Sir Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd, Desmond Haynes and Brian Lara to name a few; the Windies pace attack was considered the most fearsome of their golden era. The much famed Windies pace batteries comprising of legendary seam bowlers in Colin Croft, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and Malcolm Marshall wreaked havoc among the most formidable batting lineups during the two decades they dominated all forms of cricket. Such was the richness of quality fast bowlers at disposal that bowlers of the pedigree of Sylvester Clarke, Winston Davis and Wayne Daniels often did not get the credit they deserved. Windies pace bowling became the recipe behind their enormous success in international cricket. Carrying on the legacy of their much-famed fast bowling; Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop, Patrick Patterson and Benjamin Brothers formed a potent pace attack which was even too hot to handle in the late 80s and 90s. Towards the fag end of the 90s, Windies started losing the cutting edge with the retirements of their legendary pace duo Walsh and Ambrose and injury to tear away speedster Ian Bishop. The next generation comprising of bowlers like Franklyn Rose, Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins, Nixon McClean and Reon King promised a lot but could not handle the grind of Test cricket. Then came along the likes of Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards and Daren Powell who looked Test match class but consistency certainly deserted them. One cannot forget the likes of Ian Bradshaw and Correy Collymore who found their suit more in the limited over arena. Over the last couple of seasons, if there is one positive which has come out of the otherwise dismal state of affairs in Caribbean cricket is undoubtedly  the resurgence of the Windies pace bowling unit. While most of their team stats in Test cricket look quite dismal, the bowling figures of Windies speed merchants have been pretty impressive. It comes as little bit of surprise that all the Windies front-line bowlers average below 30 and have pretty decent strike rates over the last couple of seasons . The collective efforts of the  seam attack has resulted in Windies bowling out quality batting attacks on numerous occasions . However, their batsmen have not seized the opportunity provided by their pacemen and failed to deliver time and again at the very highest level. International cricket needs the once all conquering Windies to get back to platinum class in Test Cricket. While their  pace bowlers are holding the fort, the batsman certainly need to put up a more assured and composed batting effort while doning the Whites for their nation in the purist form of the game.