How did cricket become popular in West Indies?

(i) Despite the exclusiveness of the white cricket elite in the West Indies, the game became hugely popular in the Caribbean.
(ii) At the time of their independence, many of the political leaders of Caribbean countries like Forbes Burnham and Eric Williams saw in the game a chance for self-respect and international standing. When the West Indies won its first Test Series against England in 1950, it was celebrated as a national achievement, as a way of demonstrating that West Indies were the equals of white Englishmen.