Michael Holding and Courtney Walsh are surely among the greatest fast bowlers in the history of the game. Unsurprisingly enough both have been interviewed on the thorny subject of the decline of the West Indies as cricket team. Here's Holding—he of that over fame—from an interview a year ago on American sports, economic decline, and a mal-functioning Cricket Board:

The increasing popularity in the Caribbean of American sport is often blamed for the dearth of top-class youngsters, but Holding thinks this is exaggerated.

"I don't see any kids in the Caribbean playing baseball, or American football," he says. "It's only basketball, and the reason for that is that politicians are building basketball courts everywhere to get the kids off the streets. So we have to make cricket as accessible as basketball. Another factor is that the Caribbean economies are changing. When I was a young man, a lot of companies in Jamaica would hire sportsmen and give them time off to play or practise. They hardly worked at all. But that doesn't happen any more. And the other big factor, of course, is that the team is not doing well. Kids don't see anything they want to be a part of. But for the team to achieve success on the pitch, the West Indies Cricket Board has to sort itself out. For the last umpteen years it has been dysfunctional, to put it mildly."

And Courtney Walsh talking 5 years ago about coming out of retirement:

The decline of quality fast bowling in the Caribbean has hurt not only the fans, who still believe the fast bowler is king, but also those who proudly made the West Indies into the best side in the world.

"It has been a real disappointment to watch the way our guys have been performing," Courtney Walsh said when I caught up with him in Jamaica. "Our bowling is a real concern. We are not bowling anywhere near as well as we can. The potential is there but there has been a real lack of consistency. The word on the street is that Curtly [Ambrose] and myself should come out of retirement."

We laughed at the prospect. Walsh is enjoying retirement. The body is no longer the lean, mean bowling machine that claimed a record- breaking 519 Test scalps. The hips are wider and the hair around his temples now has a distinguished grey tinge to it. Our chuckling ended when he raised his head and looked me in the eye. "No they're serious," he said.

I have no wise words to say about the dearth of fast bowling in Jamaica and the West Indies generally. But surely the joy that watching this represents has something to do with it.