The West Indies Cricket epitomizing a Positive Attitude

The Caribbean spirit, the outrageous dance moves, the foot tapping music, the ever enthusiastic team-men is what is epitomised by the West Indian cricket. West Indies
is a group of many islands, each with a significant difference in its culture but the Caribbean spirit, the love for dance, music and most importantly fun runs right
through all of them. The teams that have come up from these islands have seen it all, from heights of glory to the dungeons of repeated failures.
The game of cricket was initially dominated by just two teams, the inventors of the game, England and Australia. New teams started coming in and it was only around the
late 1960s that competitive international cricket really began. It was then that new forms of game came in and we also moved from the multiple day matches of tets cricket
to one-day cricket.It was then that another dominant team came forward and took the world of cricket by storm. It won the introductory world cup in 1975 and then
followed it up with another triumph in 1979. In the meanwhile, the team studded up with stars like Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall,
Joel Garner, Viv Richards started dominating all forms of the game and did so for a very long time. One thing which always stood out was the jovial spirit around these
guys, with Malcolm Marshall even getting the nick name as the silent killer, making no noise while running in and then subdues celebrations when he ran through batting
orders. This group of gentlemen brought a new kind of aggression to the game, what with players still recounting how the opposition would go numb seeing Viv Richards
coming out to bat and the gait that he had, made his authority look like a given. This was the kind of dominance they had over the game and opposition teams, unfounded
since then.
It is when talks of best players across the world come in, we seldom hear of West Indian greats being blessed with technique, but often hear of their belligerence,
aggression and infectious attitude that ran through the team. The team during late 80s and then 90s, went into doldrums, again producing individual greats, but the
West Indian cricket lost its aura and dominance. Many captains came up, but none could revive that spirit again. Individual brilliance shone through the likes of Brian
Lara, Carl Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but the whole team suffered and one thing which I observed missing was the fun the earlier teams always had on the field. The
positive attitude and aggression came in moments of brilliance of Curtly Ambrose or Courtney Walsh, but again  it did not infect the whole team. One could make out
players like Keith Athurton, Jimmy Adams etc who though individually good, could not bring smiles to their faces, so to say, no positive spirit running through the camp.
The present team has found that energy, those fun loving cricketers back, with the positive spirit running through the whole squad. You can even see the poker faced
Marlon Samuels and Sunil Narine sharing a smile here and there. Players like Darren Sammy, Dwayne Bravo, Keiron Pollard have revived that Caribbean spirit, which have
made even oppositions react in weird ways (Brad Hodge's celebration at winning a game against Sunrisers in IPL, 2013 is only one of the examples). This team has many
players common with the team say five years ago, additions being Sunil Narine, Johnson Charles and a few youngsters and has lost great talent in Chaderpaul, Ramnaresh
Sarwan, an inconsistent though dangerous Fidel Edwards. The thing which has changes is now these players play as a team booming with attitude, aggression, confidence
and you can see that they are out there to enjoy themselves, the results just follow. Chris Gayle no more needs to shoulder the whole burden of scoring and can express
himself more freely, Darren Bravo is the most stylish player and provides solidarity, players like Dwayne Bravo, Pollars, Samuels provide immaculate balance through
their all round abilities.
This transformation needs to be carried through and soon we will be able to see the team performing at the test level as well.
This team to me makes the best example of the importance of sticking to your strengths, your original attitude, positivity, right amount of aggression and a self-belief
which can make teams create wonders on the field.