For aging connoisseurs of the glorious game of bat and ball it’s a hard thing to take.

However, the reality is that, increasingly, Test match cricket is taking a back seat to short, entertaining, easily packaged white ball formats — a plentiful serving of which Caribbean fans have had in recent weeks.

Of course, there are exceptions — such as the highly anticipated five-Test series between global giants Australia and India scheduled to have started Thursday night in Perth, Western Australia.

By contrast, a two-Test series between hosts West Indies and Bangladesh, starting Friday in Antigua, is little more than a footnote in global terms.

An unpalatable truth is that West Indies are ranked ninth (last) in the cyclical ICC World Test Championship table. Bangladesh are eighth.

Yet, for West Indies, 2024 started in magnificent fashion as far as Test cricket is concerned. That’s because the Caribbean team — driven by extraordinary fast bowling by 24-year-old Guyanese Mr Shamar Joseph — stunned world champions Australia by eight runs in the second Test of a two-Test series to earn a 1-1 draw on Australian soil.

Prior to that totally unexpected result, West Indies had last defeated Australia in a Test match in May 2003 at the Antigua Recreation Ground.

Back then West Indies completed a world record run chase, reaching 418-7 to beat the visiting Australians by three wickets.

Before that, to find the last time West Indies beat Australia on Australian soil, we would have had to go back a further six years to February 1997.

For Caribbean optimists the hope was that the Test match triumph in Australia in January heralded more success to come. Such hopes went up in smoke in mid-year as West Indies were whitewashed 0-3 away to England.

A more closely contested two-Test series in the Caribbean against South Africa still ended in a 0-1 defeat for the home team.

For Bangladesh, an upset away 2-0 series victory over mercurial Pakistan has kept them ahead of West Indies in the rankings.

For this series, West Indies will be without injured all-rounder and former Captain Mr Jason Holder, who at 33 is possibly not too distant from the exit door.

The visitors are also short-handed — without former captain and lead batter, 37-year-old Mr Mushfiqur Rahim and rising batting star, 26-year-old Mr Najmul Hossain Shanto.

Batting is likely to be the weakest department for both teams. An ongoing truth for the home team is that their most naturally talented batsmen invariably play cash-rich, white-ball formats, not Test cricket. That’s a reality that needs to change, somehow.

As usual, West Indies will be banking on their potent, highly respected pace attack.

By contrast, Bangladesh traditionally depend on talented spinners. An intriguing change for this series is the presence of high-quality fast bowlers in the visiting team’s line-up.

Bangladesh defeated the West Indies in a Test series on Caribbean soil just once — in 2009. Back then the visitors faced second- and third-string players after the first-choice West Indies cricketers withdrew their services in a bitter dispute over remuneration.

Memories of that 2009 series will probably be much on the minds of both teams as they get to work in Antigua.