All this started 25 years ago when Clive Lloyd set India 400 to win and threw the ball to his three spinners. It did not work. Thereafter he produced a team playing as fiercely and physically as any side since the bodyline series. It was mean, menacing and magnificent. And pace fuelled the victory charge.
Golden days can be dangerous because they encourage complacency.
The West Indies did not rebuild at the top, instead relying upon a proven formula. But there never has been an eternal blueprint, and won't be until God pulls up stumps. Soon the region that had produced Sonny Ramadhin and Lance Gibbs could not find any spinners from the top drawer. Nor were there any role models, or coaches versed in the intricacies of this frustrating calling, or captains used to saying the right words and setting the right fields. Now the day of reckoning has come.