Kaieteur Sports – It’s hard to believe this now about the 1980s, but like cassette tapes, smoking on airplanes, and mullets, West Indies against Pakistan in Test cricket was actually considered cool. These two sides were as close to must-watch as Test cricket was in that decade, the best players competing in some of the most iconic series. But the 80s moved on and left a lot of things behind in their wake, including, in a lot of ways, West Indies and Pakistan cricket.

Thirty-eight years on from the greatest series between these sides, West Indies and Pakistan take each other on in the Caribbean again. This time, it’s a basement battle rather than a championship clash; these two sides are the two lowest-ranked sides in the current World Test Championship cycle, with West Indies narrowly ahead of Pakistan on eighth. Pakistan have lost 12 of their last 16 Tests, while West Indies have won just one of their previous ten. It is a sustained rot rather than a snapshot; in the last cycle, too, West Indies and Pakistan finished eighth and ninth, respectively.

For the hosts, this represents a rare opportunity to put points on the board in a series where they are clear, if not necessarily outright, favourites. West Indies have built up a deceptively good repertoire of seam bowlers, even if it has not necessarily reflected in their Test results of late. Their pace attack is one that, with Shamar Joseph’s blistering pace, Jayden Seales’ impressive record against Pakistan, and Kemar Roach’s agelessness, should withstand the blow of Alzarri Joseph’s unavailability.