WINDIES CRICKET JERSEY

SPECS
•100% polyester
•Lightweight 4.5 ounce fabric

SIZE CHART

FIT VIDEO

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
The West Indies cricket team rose to global prominence during the 1970s, ultimately winning consecutive cricket World Cups in 1975 and 1979. This ascendence did not go over well with England, the perennial cricket powerhouse whose imperial grip on the "British West Indies" had been slipping for decades. 

In 1976, the day before a match with the colonial upstarts, England's captain said that he intended to make the West Indies players "grovel." Regardless of the speaker, this comment would be inflammatory, given the West Indies' history of British rule, which included slavery. Complicating matters: the captain, Tony Greig, was born in South Africa and in 1976, apartheid was still going strong. 

Greig quickly regretted his racist arrogance. The West Indies bowlers were already known for their aggressive tactics. England's first batsman, a 45-year-old relic named Brian Close, took the brunt during his two and half hours in front of the wickets. After the match, Close raised his shirt to reveal a pasty white torso vivid with purple bruises from balls careening off the turf into his body, just as the bowlers intended.

England lost the match by 425 runs. West Indies swept the series 3-0. England, already a fallen empire, was humiliated and had less cause than ever to look down on their former "holdings."

Meanwhile, the West Indies emerged as a cricket juggernaut, and just as importantly, an anti-colonial icon.