Sir Vivian Richards, voted one of the five best cricketers of the 20th century, said the West Indies can reverse its slide and become the first team to win the World Cup on home soil. The Caribbean team hasn't reached the final of cricket's showpiece since Richards, known as the "Master Blaster," helped it win the first two World Cups in the 1970s. This year's event, held in the region for the first time in March and April, gives Brian Lara's men the chance to make history and belie their position of eighth in the one-day rankings. "I believe we have a team that can bring the bacon home in terms of winning the World Cup," Richards, 54, said in an interview at the opening of the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in his native Antigua. "No host nation has ever won it and if I was captain I would be thinking along those lines to get them fully motivated. They would be icons for ever in this region." Unlike in soccer where the host nation has won a third of 18 World Cups, or in rugby union where it's happened twice in five events, eight editions of cricket's four-yearly championship are yet to produce a home winner. Sri Lanka was one of three co-hosts for the 1996 event, although its victory over Australia in the final took place in Lahore, Pakistan. Sixteen teams will this year compete from March 13 to April 28 in nine Caribbean countries. Top-ranked Australia is vying to become the first team to win the tournament three times in a row. Richards said a World Cup victory could "rejuvenate the spirit" of a team that's slid down the rankings in the long and short forms of the game. Lara's squad hasn't won any of its past 16 Tests and has two victories in nine one-day internationals. Richards dismissed the theory that youngsters in the Caribbean are turning to US sports such as basketball rather than cricket. "For every sporting nation there comes a time when there is a lull and your performance drops below par and you have to rebuild," said Richards. "I believe we do have the necessary ingredients to get back to where we once were." Richards, who averaged more than 50 runs per innings in 121 elite Test matches, inherited Clive Lloyd's all-conquering West Indies team in 1980 and only lost eight of 50 Tests as captain. An attacking batsman who used to chew gum at the wicket and rarely wore a helmet, Richards holds the record for the fastest Test century, off 56 balls, and scored 138 not out in the 1979 World Cup final. In 2000, a 100-member panel convened by Wisden almanac voted Richards as one of the five cricketers of the century alongside Australians Donald Bradman and Shane Warne, England's Jack Hobbs and fellow West Indian Garry Sobers. In between flaying international bowling attacks for the West Indies, Richards played county cricket for Somerset and Glamorgan and even represented Antigua at soccer in qualifying for the 1974 World Cup. He now lives in Antigua and runs the Sir Vivian Richards Foundation, which aims to provide sporting and educational opportunities to youth in the region. Richards said players and coaches shouldn't use a crowded international calendar as an excuse for poor performances at the World Cup. Former England captain Ian Botham has accused the International Cricket Council of "greed" for slotting too many games into the schedule, while international players' union president Tim May last year threatened a strike unless the workload is lightened. England's cricketers haven't had more than a month off in more than a year. After a 5-0 Ashes series loss to Australia last month, fast bowler Steve Harmison made an early exit from the tour, announcing his retirement from one-day internationals at the age of 28. "It's weak rubbish," Richards said. "Supposing in World War I and II all the guys who were in the trenches decided they needed to leave the trenches and go home, where would we be today?" Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com