By David Jackson
West Indies ended the year
2020 in a rather disappointing
fashion. They were
humiliated by New Zealand not only in the
T201 series where they lost 2-0, with the
last match being rained out but succumbed
to two comprehensive defeats in the Test
series, losing by an innings and 134 runs
and an innings and 12 runs respectively.
West Indian spirits were at an all-time low.
When therefore the team journeyed to
Bangladesh to play 3 ODIs and 2 Tests few
persons give the West Indies any chances
of winning either series. Especially given
the fact that several leading players had
opted out of the tour. Jason Holder (Test
captain), Roston Chase, Shane Dorwich,
Shamarh Brooks, and Kieron Pollard (ODI
captain). Jason Mohammed was asked to
perform the role of ODI captain while
Kraigg Brathwaite performed the role of
Test captain. Not surprisingly West Indies
lost all three ODI matches. The team was
not even competitive, losing by 6 wickets,
7 wickets, and 120 runs respectively.
Then the unexpected happened. West Indies
won the Test series 2-0. Kyle Mayers
superb double century and patience
and resilient 86 from Nkrumah Bonner
enabled the West Indies to win the first
Test spectacularly as they chased down a
huge second innings target of 395. Bonner
followed up his good batting performance in the first test with another solid
knock of 90 in the West Indies’ first innings total of 409 in the first innings of
the second Test. He was named Player of the Series.
This was one of four satisfying performances of the West Indies for this
year. The second and third were the T20 series and ODI series win against
Sri Lanka in the West Indies in March. West Indies won the T20 series 3-1
and went on to win all three matches in that ODI series.
The fourth satisfying performance of the West Indies was the 4-1 thrashing of the Australians in
the T20 series. Though the Australians were missing several key players it was
a truly satisfying series win for West Indies.
Sadly, in a general sense, West Indies has not done well this year, in none of the three formats. The slide first began with the team’s dismal performances in the home against South Africa.
The team was defeated in both Tests and lost the T201 series 3-2. But the
woeful performances in the West Indies in the T20 World Cup are by far
the most disappointing of all.
As was evident in the tournament the selection of the World Cup squad was deeply flawed. It did not help either when leading players like Andre Russell, DJ Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons,
and Chris Gayle did not live up to expectations. Even Evin Lewis, Nicholas
Pooran, and Shimron Hetmeyer who much was expected of did not shine. The loss of Obed McCoy and Fabian Allen was greatly felt.
There is a host of problems in West Indies cricket. Most of these problems
have been identified by numerous individuals and it will take time to go indepth
to describe them all in this article. I however will dwell on a few.
The poor selection of the teams for the various formats has been one of the
problems affecting the performances of the West Indies this year. The correct
decision to remove the entire selection panel is the right one. One just hopes
that the new panel will learn from the errors made by the previous panel and
select players based on merit and not favoritism.
I am also not impressed with the job done by the present Head Coach of the West Indies team,
and I think that he too should be replaced if the team continues to perform
poorly. Management has erred in my opinion in several sensitive areas and needs to do an internal assessment to address these glaring weaknesses.
Our bowlers are trying. There are however two areas that concern me. One is the inability of most of our bowlers to maintain good ‘line and length’. They bowl too many poor deliveries at times which eases the pressure on the batsmen of the opposing teams.
My second issue with our bowling attack is the general lack of ‘the killer instinct’ when they have their opponents with their backs to the wall. The team needs to learn to finish off its opponents quickly to maintain the advantage.
It is our batting, however, where our weaknesses mostly lie. The talent is there but the technique, particularly to spin is poor. Often aggression is useful when getting out of difficult situations but players like Blackwood and Mayers need to apply more common sense when they are batting. Shot selection is extremely important. In addition, our batsmen need to learn to rotate the strike and occupy the crease for extended periods. Why cant they learn the importance of building partnerships?
Now for my assessment on a scale of 1 to 10 for the following:
The selection panel for me was given a 3. I commend the panel for gamble with Jayden Seals and their confidence in the ability of players like Obed McCoy. I think that initially, they were right in selecting DJ Bravo for the T20 squad. He was able to guide and share his experience with the younger players. The Head Coach I would give a 2. He has not impressed me one bit.
The batting coach also gets a 2. Our batsmen are not improving. There remain too many flaws in their technique and approach to their innings. I want to see more grit and determination from our batsmen and less injudicious strokeplay.
The red ball captain got a grade 9 in that test series against Bangladesh in January but since then he has become too defensive and now deserves only a 5.
The white ball captain I will give also give a 5. He has not marshaled his troops well. Nicholas Pooran in my opinion has proven to be the better captain. I would give an 8.
Permit me now to identify six heroes and six villains; two for each format of the game. My two heroes for our T20 team would be Obed McCoy and Fabian Allen. The villains for this format are Andre Russell (who has been so disappointing in West Indies colors) and Fidel Edwards.
For the ODI format, the openers Evin Lewis and Shai Hope are my heroes Jason Mohammed and Rovman Powell are my villains.
For Tests, my heroes are Nkrumah Bonner (a very consistent performer) and Kemar Roach. My villains are Shai Hope and Kyle Mayers. Mayers has been somewhat of a disappointment since that splendid 206 in that first Test against Bangladesh in January.
In my opinion, all is not lost. West Indies just have to go back to the to drawing address those areas of weakness. We wish the team well in the series against England in the New year.