Except, that's wrong. The West Indian players are not representing their country at all. Now, thanks to the new domestic structure, which has been hailed far and wide as a good thing for West Indies cricket, most West Indian cricketers will never get the chance to play cricket for their country at all. Even Tony Cozier, usually so observant, has completely missed the inherent flaw in the plan.
In the '60s, '70s and '80s, the West Indian cricket team was as strong as any in the world. Despite a small player pool and disparate resources, they were able to punch well above their weight. A lot of this was to do with the continued pride of representing the West Indies, which, although no longer a country in its own right, still retained a strong cultural identity thanks to its past as the British West Indies and the West Indies Federation. Such cricketing luminaries as Michael Holding observed that domestic fixtures, such as Barbados versus Jamaica, were just as intense as the Test matches he played in. Sometimes, players would be dropped or rested from the West Indies team, and unable to reclaim a place in their island side, such was the depth of talent.
Fast forward into the 21st century, and the talent is still there for all to see. Jamaica can boast of Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Andre Russell; Trinidad of Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Denesh Ramdin. But this is an age in which being Jamaican or being Trinidadian means far more to young people than being West Indies. The times when the West Indies stood together against colonialism are now only remembered by their parents and grandparents.
I may sound like a broken record by repeating myself as I have here, and here, and here, but I think the combined West Indies cricket team is an entirely broken concept. In the long run, I believe that it would be better for the health of West Indian cricket if the nations in the region were each to find their own way in the cricketing world. Of course, neither I nor anyone else would expect one of them to win the World Cup, but if that's the best argument for keeping them together, then I find that very sad and short-sighted.
At the very least, countries in the West Indies need to be able to play each other, and be given the publicity they deserve for doing so. On that level, at least, Allen Stanford's money laundering organisation actually had the right idea.