Cricket: Call to revive sport that united the Caribbean

When they toured overseas in the 1970s, West Indies cricketers were sometimes subjected to barrages of racist abuse. But back in the Caribbean, the men were heroes, with families huddled around radios and TVs whenever they played and shouts of jubilation across entire communities when they won.

- Natricia Duncan

Today, the generation of players who won World Cups in 1975 and 1979 are acclaimed as legends. As the region celebrates Emancipation Month to commemorate the end of slavery, they have been hailed as figures of regional pride whose mastery of a game imported by the British became a powerful symbol of political and cultural resistance.

This month, St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) hosted the first Emancipation cricket festival, described by the culture minister, Carlos James, as a reminder of the link "between our emancipation, resistance, our Caribbean culture and the birth of Caribbean cricket".