Important dates in the history of West Indian cricket
1900 - West Indies under Aucher Warner ( brother of Sir Pelham) make its first tour of England. The tour of 1923 under the captaincy of Sir Harold Austin was the first to involve matches which are deemed first class.
 June 23, 1928 - Test debut against England at Lord's
 February 26, 1930 - West Indies register their first test match victory at Georgetown against England
 March 4, 1931 - At Sydney against Australia, West Indies register their first away test match victory
June 29,1950 - West Indies defeat England by 326 runs at Lord's. WI went on to win the series 3-1, the highlights being the bowling of Ramadhin and Valentine and the batting of the three W's
March 1, 1958 - Garry Sobers scores 365* against Pakistan at Kingston setting a new record for the highest individual score in Test cricket
1960 - Frank Worrell is appointed captain of West Indies, the first black cricketer to get that post. George Headley had stood in for John Goddard for two tests in 1947-48.
1960-61 - Worrell's West Indians and Richie Benaud's Australians play arguably the greatest Test series in history. The first match at Brisbane ended in a tie. Australia won the series 2-1. Half a million people lined the streets of Melbourne to bide farewell to the West Indians.
1974 - Clive Lloyd takes over from Rohan Kanhai as the captain of West Indies. The beginning of the Lloyd era which saw WI become one of the greatest teams of all time.
June 21, 1975 - West Indies win the first Cricket World Cup
May 7, 1976 - Women's team make their Test debut against Australia. A month later they played their first one day match.
June 23, 1979 - Clive Lloyd lifts the Cricket World Cup again
August 14, 1984 - West Indies complete a 5-0 'blackwash' of England.
January 1, 1985 - At Sydney, Clive Lloyd plays his last Test. Australia win by an innings and 55 runs to end West Indies' record streak of 27 Test matches without defeat.This also included a (then) record 11 wins in consecutive Tests.
April 18, 1994 - Brian Lara scores 375 against England at St. John's and breaks Sobers' record for highest individual score in Test cricket
June 6, 1994 - Playing for Warwickshire against Durham in county cricket, Lara scores 501*. This breaks the 35 year old record of Hanif Mohammad for the highest score in first class cricket.
May 3, 1995 - West Indies lose the final Test at Kingston to Australia, thereby losing the series 1-2. This was their first defeat in a series in 15 years.
1998-99 - West Indies make their first tour of South Africa. They suffered a 0-5 defeat in a controversy ridden series.
April 12, 2004 - Brian Lara scores 400* against England at Antigua to regain the record for the highest individual score in Test cricket.
 September 25, 2004 - Brian Lara lifts the ICC Champions Trophy

The 1930s

Test tours
West Indies had their first test tour of Australia in 1930. They also toured England twice during the 1930s. They played 19 tests, most of them against England, winning 4 and losing 9. Most of the test matches had 6-ball overs but 3 of them had 8-ball overs. The test matches played had different formats (3 day, 4 day, 5 day, timeless).

West Indian captains
Most of the matches were captained by G C Grant. 

List of top West Indian runscorers in the 1930s
 George Headley 2135

List of top West Indian wickettakers of the 1930s
 L N Constantine 53

The 1940s
Test tours
The 1940s were affected by World War II. In 1948, West Indies toured newly independent India for the first time for a 5 test tour. The tour was preceded by a non-test tour of Pakistan and followed by a similar short tour of Ceylon. West Indies did not lose any of the 9 test matches it played in this decade.

West Indian captains
Most of the matches were captained by JDC Goddard under whose captaincy the West Indies won 3 test matches.

List of top West Indian runscorers in the 1940s
 Everton deWeekes 1072 at an average of 82.46
 Clyde Walcott 585 

List of top West Indian wickettakers in the 1940s
 W Ferguson 33

The 1950s
Test tours
During the 1950s, West Indies toured England and New Zealand twice and  Australia, India and Pakistan once each. West Indies played a total of 48 test matches in this decade, winning 18 and losing