This question will be asked in every corner of the cricket-playing world after the former giants crashed to an innings and 209-run defeat inside three days in the first Test against England at Edgbaston on Saturday.
The latest generation of cricket fans brought up on a diet of slap-dash T20 cricket cannot fathom in their wildest of dreams the aura that West Indies cricket enjoyed in the 1970s through to the early 90s when they dominated the world.
Naturally talented, fearless and putting their honour and pride before everything else, the Calypso Kings put a group of scattered Caribbean islands on the world sporting map by dominating the game like no team did before.
Old television clips of their feared fast bowlers such as Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshal, Joel Garner and Curtley Ambrose, to name a few, steaming in from long run-ups still give fans goose bumps; one can, therefore, only wonder how batsmen coped at the other end.
Contrast this to the images from last week when England piled up 514 for eight declared and shot out the West Indies for 168 and 137 after following-on and the picture is clear: their decline is complete and only a major upheaval can bring a change in their fortunes.
At one point in the Edgbaston Test, Stuart Law, the West Indies’ coach, had his head in his hands and it was easy to sympathise with the Australian’s despair as his side made several ‘schoolboy errors’. They last won a Test in England 17 years ago.
And since 1997, excluding matches against perennial strugglers Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, they have won just three out of 87 away Tests in total.
“Every time they have arrived in England, they seem to have got worse,” Vaughan told the BBC’s Test Match Special.
West Indies’ plight has not been helped by players being barred from Test selection unless they appeared in the entire domestic four-day competition.
But star names faced with a choice between a lowly-paid tournament — the economics of many West Indies territories mean officials cannot match the wages on offer elsewhere in the world — or a clashing but lucrative Twenty20 league, simply took the better deal.
Add in a bitter dispute between several leading players and Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron and you have a situation where Jason Holder’s Test squad are without the likes of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy.
Meanwhile, the privately run Caribbean Premier League Twenty20 tournament is continuing at home while a three-Test tour of England is in progress.
In the absence of ‘Test windows’, where there are no competing formats running at the same time, top West Indies cricketers will most likely continue to sign contracts that offer them the greatest chance of financial security.
The West Indies have problems in the 50-over format too. They failed to make this year’s Champions Trophy and the twice former champions will also have to qualify for the 2019 World Cup in England after sliding too far down the rankings for direct entry.
Cricket administrators therefore have a huge task on hand. Putting aside petty differences and egos, they should chalk out a plan in co-operation with their greats of the game to chalk out a long-term plan to inject new life into the Caribbean game.
