The history of the West Indian cricket team begins in the 1880s when the first combined West Indian team was formed and toured Canada and the United States. In the 1890s, the first representative sides were selected to play visiting English sides. Administered by the West Indies Cricket Board ("WICB"), and known colloquially as The Windies, the West Indies cricket team represents a sporting confederation of English-speaking Caribbean countries.
The WICB joined the sport's international ruling body, the Imperial Cricket Conference, in 1926, and played their first official international match, which in cricket is called a Test, in 1928.