The West Indies have provided some of the great moments in almost 44 years of cricket's World Cup history. Under the unifying leadership of Clive Lloyd, they strode to victory against Australia when the showpiece tournament was first held in 1975, and repeated that success over England four years later. They also had a significant role in the 1983 instalment, losing to rank outsider India in the final.
There have been individual exploits that have lit up the tournament, from Viv Richards in the field on that long afternoon at Lord's in '75 and Joel Garner with the ball in the '79 final during their halcyon days to Brian Lara and Curtly Ambrose in the years when the once-dominant team compiled from the small islands of the Caribbean was on the slide.
Brian Lara salutes the crowd in 2007.
And now the Windies, as they have officially been branded as since 2017, need to produce another memorable moment - but for a far more sobering reason.
While their struggles and decline in the Test arena since being dethroned by Australia in 1995 have been well documented, their poor form in the 50-over format meant they had slipped to ninth on the ICC's rankings by last year's September 30 cut off, and will need to qualify for next year's World Cup in England and Wales.
Next year's tournament will feature 10 teams, a drop in four from previous editions, with eight already having qualified, and two to come from the finalists of the qualification tournament in Zimbabwe.
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This qualification will involve the Windies, Ireland, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Scotland, Hong Kong and Nepal. Warm-up matches begin this week ahead of Sunday's opener.
While the Windies are tipped to progress to the final and win through, there is a chance the once mighty Calypso Kings could be absent from the 2019 program. It's a possibility that Lara, the seventh all-time leading run-scorer in Test history, refuses to entertain.
"We have a very good record in the Champions Trophy and we didn't have the opportunity to play (last year). The World Cup is a different story, obviously," Lara told The Age on Monday.
"It is something much more important. History in that particular tournament is very strong, especially in the early part of it, the first three or four World Cups. It's a situation where I think the boys have no choice, we have to pull it through. It (ICC rankings) is set up in such a way that we were out of that place (automatically qualifying) so we have to qualify. But it doesn't mean we can't get there - we have to get there."
The Windies are ranked eighth in the Test arena but have made an impression in Twenty20 internationals, sitting fifth ahead of England, South Africa and Sri Lanka. Amid this, Cricket West Indies continues to be wracked by politics and bickering, with former players, including greats of the game, disillusioned with the direction the board has taken.
Lara with then Australian captain Ricky Ponting in 2003.
So frustrated and angry are some that former batsman Ronnie Sarwan has called on the administrators since 1990 to "pad up" and "help the team qualify for the next World Cup" because of what he sees as their role in the demise of the team.
Lara, who does not have any role in the sport, in part because of the CWI politics which he says is a "very tricky situation", said Twenty20 cricket had helped to enliven the sport in the Caribbean islands. But what would happen if the Windies were absent come the World Cup?
"I don't think anything is going to happen to the sport. Cricket has taken a different turn since the invention of T20. It's actually turned cricket on its head in the Caribbean in terms of understanding the importance of Test cricket and the forms of the game," he said.
"So T20 on its own has created a different spectator and different cricketer and that is going to evolve. The World Cup, it would be a huge disappointment ... I don't want to think beyond that. The tournament is in front of the boys in Zimbabwe at present and they have got to pull it through."
The Windies have turned, in part, to experience to help them through, for Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, having played a combined 467 one-day internationals, have been selected in the 15-man squad led by Jason Holder.
But highlighting the political drama, all-rounders Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell, spinner Sunil Narine and batsman Darren Bravo have opted not to play, preferring to pocket the money on offer in the Pakistan Super League.
