New­ly ap­point­ed Test cap­tain Ros­ton Chase is the 38th West In­dies Test cap­tain since the West In­dies be­gan play­ing Test crick­et in 1928. Chase is the 11th Test cap­tain from Bar­ba­dos. T&T have had 10 Test cap­tains, Guyana sev­en, Ja­maica six, the Lee­ward Is­lands three, and the Wind­ward Is­lands one.

Chase’s first as­sign­ment will be against an Aus­tralian team that is ei­ther com­ing to the Caribbean buoyed from win­ning the ICC World Test Cham­pi­onship against South Africa, June 11-15, 2025, at Lord’s, Eng­land, or wound­ed from los­ing. Since re­lin­quish­ing the Frank Wor­rell Tro­phy to a Mark Tay­lor-led Aus­tralian team in 1995 in the Caribbean, the West In­dies have had 16 cap­tains. Bar­ring Ri­d­ley Ja­cobs’ 100%-win record of two wins in as many match­es, no cap­tain has had a pos­i­tive win-to-loss record.

The first com­bined West In­dies team formed in 1884 toured Cana­da and the USA in 1886. In 1888, the USA toured the Caribbean. The West In­dies al­so toured Eng­land in 1900, 1906, and 1923. Be­tween 1897 and 1926, sev­er­al per­sons cap­tained the West In­dies team: Auch­er Warn­er, Stan­ley Spros­ton, Harold Austin, Clement King, Al­fred Har­ri­g­an, Ed­win Moul­der, William Sher­lock, Per­cy Tar­il­ton, Mal­colm Austin, and Karl Nunes.

In 1926, the West In­dies, New Zealand, and In­dia be­came full mem­bers of the Im­pe­r­i­al Crick­et Con­fer­ence, formed by Eng­land, Aus­tralia, and South Africa in 1909. In 1965, the Im­pe­r­i­al Crick­et Con­fer­ence was re­named the In­ter­na­tion­al Crick­et Con­fer­ence. The or­gan­i­sa­tion was re­named the In­ter­na­tion­al Crick­et Coun­cil in 1987. The West In­dies played their first Test match against Eng­land at Lords, Eng­land, June 23-26, 1928, los­ing by an in­nings and 58 runs.

In the 97th year of Test crick­et, the last against Pak­istan in Jan­u­ary 2025, the West In­dies have played 584 match­es, win­ning 185, los­ing 216, draw­ing 182, and one tie. The per­cent­age win is 31.67; the per­cent­age loss is 36. 98, and the per­cent­age draw is 31.16.

The list of the 38 West In­dies Test cap­tains since 1928 in chrono­log­i­cal or­der ac­cord­ing to match­es, wins, loss­es, draws, ties, % win and % loss are:

1 Karl Nunes (Jam) 1928-30: 4M, 0W, 3L, 1D, % Win 0, % Loss 75

2 Ed­ward Hoad (Bar) 1930: 1M, 0W, 0L, 1D, % Win 0, % Loss 0

3 Nel­son Be­tan­court (T&T) 1930: 1M, 0W, 1L, 0D, % Win 0, % Loss 100

4 Mau­rius Fer­nan­des (Guy) 1930: 1M, 1W, 0L, 0D, % Win 100, % Loss 0

5 George Grant (T&T) 1930-35: 12M, 3W, 7L, 2D, % Win 25, % Loss 58.33

6 Rolph Grant (T&T) 1939-39: 3M, 0W, 1L, 2D, % Win 0, % Loss 33.33

7 George Headley (Jam) 1948: 1M, 0W, 0L, 1D, % Win 0, % Loss 0

8. Ger­ry Gomez (T&T) 1948: 1M, 0W, 0L, 1D, % Win 0, % Loss 0

9 John God­dard (Bar) 1948-57: 22M, 8W, 7L, 7D, % Win 36.36, % Loss 31.81

10 Jef­frey Stollmey­er (T&T) 1952-55: 13M, 3W, 4L, 6D, % Win 23.07, % Loss 30.76

11 De­nis Atkin­son (Bar) 1955-56: 7M, 3W, 3L, 1D, % Win 42.85, % Loss 42.85

12 Franz Alexan­der (Jam) 1958-60: 18M, 7W, 4L, 7D, % Win 38. 88, % Loss 22.22

13 Frank Wor­rell (Bar) 1960-63: 15M, 9W, 3L, 1 Tie, 2D, % Win 60, % Loss 20

14 Garfield Sobers (Bar) 1965-72: 39M, 9W, 10L, 20D, % Win 23.07, % Loss 25.64

15 Ro­han Kan­hai (Guy) 1973-74: 13M, 3W, 3L, 7D, % Win 23.07, % Loss 23.07

16 Clive Lloyd (Guy) 1974-1985: 74M, 36W, 12L, 26D, % Win 48.64, % Loss 16.21

17 Alvin Kallichar­ran (Guy)1978-79: 9M, 1W, 2L, 6D, % Win 11.11, % Loss 22.22

18 Deryck Mur­ray (T&T) 1979-79: 1M, 0W, 0L, 1D, % Win 0, % Loss 0

19 Vi­vian Richards (LI) 1980-1991: 50M, 27W, 8L, 15D, %Win 54, % Loss 16

20 Gor­don Greenidge (Bar) 1988: 1M, 0W, 1L, 0D, % Win 0, % Loss 100

21 Desmond Haynes (Bar) 1990: 4M, 1W, 1L, 2D, % Win 25, % Loss 25

22 Richie Richard­son (LI) 1992-95: 24M, 11W, 6L, 7D, % Win 45.83, % Loss 25

23 Court­ney Walsh (Jam) 1994-97: 22M, 6W, 7L, 9D, % Win 27.27, % Loss 31.81

24 Bri­an Lara (T&T) 1997-06: 47M, 10W, 26L, 11D, % Win 21.27, % Loss 55.31

25 Jim­my Adams (Jam) 2000-01: 15M, 4W, 8L, 3D, % Win 26. 66, % Loss 53.33

26 Carl Hoop­er (Guy) 2001-02: 22M, 4W, 11L, 7D, % Win 18.18, % Loss 50

27 Ri­d­ley Ja­cobs (LI) 2002-03: 2M, 2W, 0L, 0D, % Win 100, % Loss 0

28 Shiv Chan­der­paul (Guy) 2004-06: 14M, 1W, 10L, 3 D % Win 7.14, % Loss 71.42

29 Ramnaresh Sar­wan (Guy) 2007-08: 4M, 0W, 2L, 2D, % Win 0, % Loss 50

30 Daren Gan­ga (T&T) 2007: 2M, 0W, 2L, 0D, % Win 0, % Loss 100

31 Chris Gayle (Jam) 2007-10: 20M, 3W, 9L, 8D, % Win 15, % Loss 45

32 Dwayne Bra­vo (T&T) 2008: 1M, 0W, 1L, 0D, % Win 0, % Loss 100

33 Floyd Reifer (Bar) 2009: 2M, 0W, 2L, 0D, % Win 0, % Loss 100

34 Daren Sam­my (WI) 2010-13: 30M, 8W, 12L, 10D, % Win 26.66, % Loss 40

35 De­nesh Ramdin (T&T) 2014-15: 13M, 4W,7L, 2D, % Win 30.76, % Loss 53.84

36 Ja­son Hold­er (Bar) 2015-20: 37M, 11W, 21L, 5D, % Win 29.72, % Loss 56.75

37 Kraigg Brath­waite (Bar) 2017-25: 39M, 10W, 22L, 2D, %Win 25.64; % Loss 56.41

38 Ros­ton Chase (Bar)

The most suc­cess­ful test cap­tains [a min­i­mum of 10 match­es] have been:

1 Frank Wor­rell (Bar) 1960-63: 15M, 9W, 3L, 1Tie, 2D, % Win 60, % Loss 20

2 Vi­vian Richards (LI) 1980-1991: 50M, 27W, 8L, 15D, %Win 54, % Loss 16

3 Clive Lloyd (Guy) 1974-1985: 74M, 36W, 12L, 26D, % Win 48.64, % Loss 16.21

4 Richie Richard­son (LI) 1992-95: 24M, 11W, 6L, 7D, % Win 45.83, % Loss 25

The dis­mal win-loss record re­veals the pro­longed de­cline of West In­dies Test crick­et, a harsh re­al­i­ty un­der­scored by con­sis­tent de­feats against top-tier sides like Aus­tralia, In­dia, South Africa, New Zealand, and Eng­land.