Somewhere in the country are stunning waterfalls, the natural wonders of the Amazon, and oil, gold and diamond reserves. The capital, Georgetown, is not it. The early darkness camouflages the capital’s stilted houses, shrouding the rotting wood and peeling paint. The beautiful, breezy demerara window shutters in cheery reds, greens or cream only highlight the dereliction of the rest of it.

Guyana is “elemental, water and earth, mud and fruit, race and crime, innocent and full of scoundrels”, Rahul Bhattacharya writes in his book about an Indian cricket writer who decides to live there. In bright daylight, our taxi driver ticks us off for rolling down the window in a neighbourhood we’re told to drive through and never stop. On streets along the overgrown canals, vendors hawking tender coconut, fizzy juices and cassava snacks by day disappear in time for the late shift, to be replaced by, we are warned, dealers, addicts and hookers. We don’t stop.

Margaret Walcott – nicknamed Chico after the gum she constantly chewed – was 18 when she played those matches. It was her birthday, she remembers. Joni James was the captain and took the new ball with Chico. Phyllis Ramdular was their spinner, and slightly older than many of them. Her sister Maylene was the wicketkeeper. They remember the India captain Rangaswamy, “a girl named Kulkarni”, and the fierce bowler with the gap tooth – Shantha Rangaswamy, Shubhangi Kulkarni and Diana Edulji.

“They had a lot of good spinners,” says James. “We couldn’t really cope with it.”

Walcott, an opening batter and bowler who chose cricket over boxing, laughs at the memory of striking Rangaswamy for a boundary. The Indian captain, she says, stood scowling, hands on hip. According to a report in Kaiteur News, Chico top-scored with 32 of the side’s 67-7 in 33 overs; Edulji took 4-9 that first game.

The stories of the two teams, from two opposite ends of the world, were in so many ways similar. The Guyanese women too didn’t really have a full-time coach; they practised between studies and work and life; they played on weekends against boys’ teams to get better; they raised money to play by selling raffle tickets and cakes; when their curfew was 9pm, they’d still be awake playing games.

A heartbreaking loss for the Indian women last night to crash out of the T 20 world cup, but hey @BCCIWomen you were awesome through the tournament and we are all proud of you.?

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) November 23, 2018

The difference is the trajectories their cricket careers took. India, riding on the stubbornness, vision and sheer luck of that first generation of players, went on to become an established cricketing nation for women. Rangaswami, Kulkarni, Edulji and Shah are pillars of that growth.

None of the women from that Guyanese team went on to represent the Windies. Chico got a call-up (she remembers it as being against South Africa), but the tour was cancelled; nor could she participate in the World Cup. Guyana’s star in that series was Ave Mogan, a young teenager who too reportedly made the national team for a tour that fell through owing to lack of funds. She emigrated to Canada and pioneered women’s cricket there, playing for that country’s side well into her 40s. By the mid-1980s, the All Stars thinned out, and the rivalries they had built with the YMCA team, as well as some others outside the capital, fizzled out.

Captain @ImHarmanpreet on the culture the team has adopted of late that deems fit for the T20 format.#WomenInBlue pic.twitter.com/ENt03RdORb

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) November 22, 2018

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Guyana’s great son, remembers how his sister, a pace bowler, played cricket better than him when they were kids, but never had the opportunity to pursue it as he did. The 2018 World T20 coming to the country is meant to serve as a reminder of the opportunities that do exist for the girls of today – to play cricket perhaps without resorting to cake sales to raise funds. And the women of that 1979 team have no complaints with that.

Chico has taken a break from her work in the market to watch a couple of the World T20 matches. James, whose work as a secretary supports her, and the Ramdular sisters, have their hats and flags ready for a good game of cricket at the Providence stadium. India are playing Australia, and, of course, they win – Guyana is where the inconceivable of Indian cricket happens, after all.

Chico sees another something that hasn’t changed: “Y’all have the best spinners.”