The great Roman Empire was vast, its territory stretching across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Lasting from 27 BC to 476 AD, it was the centre of power in the world; its leader in artistic expression and technological advancement. Its advent ushered in an age of peace and prosperity, and it stood strong and unconquered. But then rot set in, triggering a gradual decline that resulted in its eventual fall. And just like that, the greatest civilisation the world had known was reduced to rubble.

After rising to the pinnacle of cricket in the late 1970s, the West Indies remained there, largely unchallenged, until 1995 when the crown was wrested from them by Australia. As far as cricket goes, that was an eon for one team to dominate. The West Indies were the envy of the cricket world, having some of the best players the game had seen. But then decay set in, which led to the Caribbean side slipping in stature and quality, from the undisputed best in the world to close to the very bottom of the pile.

Those who follow West Indies cricket closely know that the series defeat in 1995 was more than just a temporary setback. It had been clear for some time that the team was in decline. Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh were still around, as skilful and as formidable as ever, and Brian Lara was the best batter around. But the loss of Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Jeffrey Dujon, Malcolm Marshall and others seriously reduced the capacity of the great side and the replacements were never going to be of similar pedigree.

Things went from bad to worse and the West Indies, save for some success in the Twenty20 version of the sport, has been going through a period of prolonged mediocrity. Those of us who were fans of the popular TV series Game Of Thrones would be familiar with their reality of winter. Winter in Westeros (the fictional place in which the series is set) is not just winter as we know it. It is a time of dread, a time of darkness and destruction all round. With winter also comes the possibility of another “long night”, a particularly harsh winter that lasted more than a generation, “when children were born, lived and died, all in darkness …when kings froze in their castles, same as the shepherds in their huts”.

This long winter, which red-ball cricket especially has endured, has taken a toll. Fans have largely lost interest and where we used to have grounds full and overflowing for Tests against the likes of England and Australia, we now see merely a smattering of diehard fans dotting the stands. To put this in perspective, please note that as I write this I’m watching a Test match between Australia and India from Brisbane, and there are currently over 34,000 spectators at the ground.

Nations which once eyed the West Indies with respect, and often envy, now view them with ridicule or pity. The great side has long gone and in their place — despite a few surprises every now and then — stands a much less proficient unit, unable to consistently compete with the best teams in the game.

What is clear is that West Indies cricket is no longer highly regarded, and there is even concern in some quarters that it might not be worth preserving. Recently, outgoing International Cricket Council (ICC) Chairman Greg Barclay had this to say: “You look at the West Indies, I love what they’ve done for the game, but is the West Indies in its current form sustainable? Is it time for them to break into each of their islands.”

This is something we have heard over the years, but mainly from dissatisfied West Indians upset their fellow islanders weren’t being given a fair shake in the selection process. To hear it coming from the former ICC head is something different entirely.

Barclay fired off something of a Parthian shot, accusing jurisdictions of selfishness and expressing concern about the congestion of the cricket calendar, among other issues. Some of these are long-standing problems that, by his own admission — and by the fact he was unable to make corrections during the four years he was in charge — are nearly impossible to rectify.

The message here is that world cricket has been in chaos for some time and the administrators have little idea how to return it to a state of harmony. This is the context that has framed much of West Indies cricket’s decline.

Test cricket in the West Indies is no longer the shiny object it was a few decades ago. Players no longer have to tailor their game to suit the demands of Test cricket, which means that those who would otherwise have been available for Test selection are now quite happy plying their wares on the Twenty20 (T20) circuit. Do we think, for instance, that talent like Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King, Sherfane Rutherford, Andre Russell, and Shai Hope would not have moved heaven and earth to play Test cricket consistently were there no lucrative T20 options available?

With the West Indies Test side already suffering from a lack of high quality, breaking the whole up into little pieces will only serve to further dilute the product. In rubbishing Barclay’s ludicrous suggestion, Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) president, Donovan Bennett, said this in an interview: “We would never play Test cricket and the World Cup as individual nations. That would be almost impossible for that to happen. We would be very hard-pressed to compete in a tournament like that.”

The West Indies gained Test status in 1928 and was the fourth territory, after England, Australia, and South Africa, to achieve that distinction. It is a storied institution whose achievements have engendered a sense of pride among the people of the Caribbean. It should not be allowed to wither and die.

In a scene from the first episode of season seven of Game of Thrones, Archmaester Ebrose is trying to reassure his student, Samuel Tarly, that he need not be overly concerned about the perils of winter, that the world would survive despite the hardships: “When Robert’s rebellion was raging,” he reminded his trainee, “people thought the end was near, the end of the Targaryen dynasty; how will we survive? When Aegon Targaryen turned his eye westward and flew his dragons to Blackwater Rush, the end was near; how will we survive? And thousands of years before that, during the long night, we can forgive them for thinking it truly was the end but it wasn’t — none of it was…and every winter that ever came has ended.”

West Indies cricket fans are dying to see the passing of this long period of scarcity, this long winter. Unlike the Roman Empire, which was never rebuilt, the hope is that West Indies cricket will survive and last for years to come. It might never reach the heady heights to which it previously rose. But we wish for it to again be strong and respected.

Garfield Robinson is a Jamaican living in the US who writes on cricket for a few Indian and English publications. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or garfield.v.robinson@gmail.com.