Australian cricket fans have had a strong affection for West Indian players and cricket teams for a long time.

The elegance and graceful power of Frank Worrell’s 1960-61 squad made an indelible mark that branded “Calypso cricket” as a style to be admired and copied. They played with a freedom not anchored by the concept of “the draw”.

That tour was rightly seen as the end of the self-absorbed batting epoch of the 1950s when the lbw law was designed to be impossible and pads were worn out quicker than bats. The Aussie fans couldn’t wait for the Windies’ 1968-69 tour. They were, sadly, a softening shadow of Worrell’s men eight years earlier, but still managed to win a Test in the 3-1 series defeat.

International teams did not tour every year and the Ashes still held primacy into the early 1970s, but that was to change by 1975-76 when Clive Lloyd brought a mixture of grizzled veterans, batting tyros and rampaging fast bowlers Down Under. The scoreline favoured Australia 5-1, but that was not a true reflection of the difference between the teams. The disparity in the result had little to do with the quality and, hence, the entertainment provided – the fans barracked for Lloyd’s men as much as they did for the home team.

That trend continued through World Series Cricket and then turned another corner into the Windies’ domination of the 1980s when the West Indies toured Australia regularly for Tests, one-dayers or both. Thank goodness T20 had yet to be popularised.

As a player during that period I often mused as to why the fans were making more noise for the visitors; granted they were winning a lot of the time, but still...

Viv Richards was all class and swagger, becoming a huge fan favourite Down Under.Credit: Fairfax

The West Indies had toured so often since World Series Cricket that they had become household names in an era when colour television was broadcasting players’ images into every loungeroom. The table set by Worrell et al was now presenting a feast. Before a series began, every Caribbean player was well known to the audience. How times have changed.

Yes, Twenty20 cricket is dominating the marketplace, and players are making choices to take the line of least resistance towards a low physical input and a highly paid existence. No problems there, but it does seem that a number of Windies players in the past managed to produce in the shortest form and Test cricket.