Brian Lara was given a plot of prime Trinidad land overlooking the ocean on which to build a dream house, as a tribute to his iconic status in Caribbean cricket.
The women's game affords no such luxuries, however, and the West Indies team only just scraped together enough money to participate in the World Cup.
 |  We have a nice mix of youth and experience |
Their star player is Nadine George, the first woman to score a century for the West Indies, but she has to combine cricket with policing the hustle and bustle of street life in her native Jamaica.
"I started playing in 1994," the 36-year-old told BBC Sport prior to a practice session in Barbados.
"I used to listen to the cricket on the radio when Viv Richards, Michael Holding and Joel Garner were playing. I just loved the game and decided to start playing.
"I was in the Women's Police Sports Club and the St Lucia coach, Kenneth Arthur, saw me and had me on the St Lucia National team.
"I toured with them until 1999 when I first made the West Indies select team."
Having made 53 in a one-day match in India a year ago, she then had Pakistan's number on the second half of their Asian tour with her historic Test innings of 118 in Karachi.
It was overshadowed by Kiran Baluch's world record 242 for the home side earlier in the game, but enabled West Indies to salvage a draw after trailing by 279 on first innings.
"I'm elated to be the first to score a century," she said. "It was very humid and sapped a lot of energy out of me.
"We weren't accustomed to the humidity or the spin of Shaiza Khan, who ripped through the team [with 7-59] in the first innings.
"So it was good to consolidate and a boost for West Indies women's cricket."
Despite serious concerns over finances, the team will begin the World Cup campaign in good heart.
 Holders New Zealand will be first up for the West Indies |
At their Trinidad training camp they had successive wins over male teams, but as coach Ann Browne-John points out, it was all only possible through late funding.
"It really was a very terrible situation," she said.
"We were hanging in there right down to the end, we told ourselves sponsors would come on board at some time but we never expected it to take that long.
"Finally at the last minute we had some help with funding from governments in the Caribbean and some corporate sponsors came along, even at the very last moment we got some additional help from a CONCAF official, Mr Jack Warner.
"We are still short, we didn't come up on our total amount but at least we will get there, it may not be with all the trimmings but we'll get there!"
The coach is optimistic about the team's chances in their first World Cup since 1997, and believes the unfortunate decline of the men's team over the last decade can have a positive effect for them.
"We have a nice mix of youth and experience with three players who have been to the World Cup before and our youngest player Anisa Mohammad is 16, we think the combination should augur well."
Mohammad took three wickets in one of the recent victories and will be partnered by another teenage spinner of Indian extraction, Indomatie Goordial, who is 18.
Australia are considered strong favourites, and in Cathryn Fitzpatrick have the fastest bowler in the women's game.
But George's view of facing her for the first time comes straight from the West Indian guide to easy living.
"We're not worried, we take every day as it comes.
"We look at all teams the same, play our game accordingly and we are looking forward to being champions."
Optimistic, perhaps, but after the trials and tribulations of simply getting to South Africa, what's wrong with a bit of positive thinking?
MMIX
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