AS the West Indies cricket team celebrated their 1-0 away Test series victory in Bangladesh a few days ago, a notable historical fact came to the fore: It was the first time since 1994 that the West Indies had completed a calendar year without losing a Test series.

To put that in sharper focus, 32 years ago the Caribbean side was at the pinnacle of Test cricket, though cracks were beginning to show — manifested in a series defeat to Australia the following year.

Back in 1994, Mr Richie Richardson was West Indies captain, Mr Desmond Haynes was opening the innings, Messrs Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and James Adams were fledgling batting stars and Messrs Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh led a feared pace attack.

Also, back in 1994, Bangladesh — 23 years after declaring itself a sovereign nation, having broken away from Pakistan — were far away from achieving Test match status. That last honour came in 2000.

Since 1994, international cricket has changed to such an extent that when Bangladesh hosted West Indies for the first Test in the just-ended series they were higher in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test match rankings than the former kingpins.

That was Bangladesh at sixth, with West Indies ranked eighth. The series victory for West Indies means that the two teams switched places in the ICC rankings.

The West Indies triumph over Bangladesh away was preceded in mid-year by a 1-0 series win over seventh-placed Sri Lanka, and a 1-1 result against ninth-ranked Pakistan — both in the Caribbean.

Readers should recall that West Indies had a difficult, deflating time in Test cricket in 2025 after an encouraging 1-1 series draw with Pakistan in that country at the start of the year. That was followed by 0-3 defeat to Australia in the Caribbean and 0-2 losses to India and New Zealand away.

It’s against the backdrop of inconsistencies and staggering West Indies decline over these last 32 years that legendary cricket commentator and analyst Mr Joseph “Reds” Perreira told the Jamaica Observer this week that Test match successes in 2026 should not be overstated.

“Those teams [Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan] are in the bottom half [of the Test rankings]. And we did well [against] them, but the opposition cannot be described as great,” Mr Perreira said.

“When we start beating the people above us, when we start beating the people in the top five, then you can really assess whether we’re getting back to being a competitive Test team,” he added.

Nonetheless, any process towards restoring resource-starved West Indies cricket to something approaching former glory has to start somewhere. Now is, hopefully, not too late.

Pleasingly, there has been marked improvement in West Indies Test match batting, particularly over the last year. Also, while fast bowling has long been an area of strength, there is surely much to be proud about in the spin department, with 34-year-old Mr Jomel Warrican outperforming vaunted Bangladeshi spinners on their own turf.

Such successes must continue in all formats — especially in the 50-over ICC World Cup qualifiers set for early next year and the next Test championship cycle.

If the successes of 2026 can be built on in 2027 — notwithstanding the worrying negatives from an ongoing white-ball development tour of the Caribbean by England’s reserves — West Indies cricket may yet find its feet.