Empires fall in the same way as men go broke; which, said Hemingway, is gradually then suddenly. No one could have seen West Indies’ decline coming then, but 30 years ago there came almost the last, defiant act of a cricketing empire soon to fall. It was sweet while the dominance lasted, maybe the sweetest thing of all, although when you were bowled out for 46, as my England team were all those years ago, the sweetness tasted a touch bitter.
It’s hard to imagine now, because Test cricket in the Caribbean is effectively dead as a spectator sport, unless England are travelling to the region — which is not at all for Test cricket in the next Future Tours Programme cycle — in which
