Friday, January 4, 2002 West Indies was once a proud cricket team, strutting the international stage without fear. All that has changed. The West Indians now cower at the prospect of an overseas tour and blink in the glare of the mildest adversary. In Sri Lanka, they showed that one man, however great, does not make a team. Without that one man it is difficult to find words to describe them or their prospects.

On their last visit to Pakistan in 1997-98, West Indies handed Wasim Akram's team one of the greatest victories in Pakistan's history: a 3-0 whitewash of a once-mighty team. Pakistan were then at the height of their internal strife over match-fixing and betting; Waqar's Pakistan are a far more cohesive outfit. Worse still, the team Courtney Walsh led to Pakistan four years ago would probably thrash the current crop from Sharjah to Morocco. The two sides are due to meet again in February, and another whitewash is a real possibility.

That West Indies no longer have the skill to compete with the best is a shame in itself, but a bigger one is that they no longer have the stomach for a fight. This is evident in the way that they have surrendered match after match in recent years — and now in their doubts over touring Pakistan.

The world has moved on since New Zealand pulled out of their tour of Pakistan, and England dithered over touring India. Afghanistan is now as peaceful as it has been for the last 20 years and to pull out of a tour of Pakistan because of the Afghan war is bordering on farce. West Indies' real concern, you might argue, should be the escalation in tension over Kashmir. This is genuine if war does break out — but even then the West Indians are unlikely to be targeted. But there is no war at present and the political rhetoric is softening as expected. All in all, Wes Hall's statement that West Indies would not tour Pakistan was hasty and ill-considered.

In contrast, England have confirmed that they will return to India despite the threats of war. This suggests that the West Indies' concerns are out of touch with reality. Indeed West Indies should take a leaf out of England's book: agree to tour but give players the option of staying at home if they are not prepared to take the risk. It is hard to imagine that the West Indies in their pomp would have shied away from this tour. Instead their hesitancy is another mark of a once-great cricket nation in pitiful decline.

Kamran Abbasi, born in Lahore, brought up in Rotherham, is assistant editor of the BMJ. His Asian View appears on Fridays on Wisden.com.

More Kamran Abbasi
Don't insult our intelligence
Let's fill those grounds

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd