By David Jackson
The second of five T201s between West Indies and England,
the ICC T20 number 1 ranked team in the world, concluded
on Sunday, January 23rd. The match once again exposed
the problems the West Indies are having at the top of the order. It
is extremely worrying. This pathetic top-order batting display by
the West Indies is unacceptable and must be addressed soon or the
West Indies will continue to struggle in this format of the game. The
lower-order batsmen, all bowlers I must add, cannot be expected
to save the West Indies every single time, from humiliation; because
had it not been for that explosive batting by Romario Shepherd
and Akeal Hosein, the West Indies would have succumbed to yet
another disappointing and embarrassing defeat, after playing so
well in the first T201, the day before. One must therefore ask the
question; what went wrong on Sunday?
The answers are obvious. Despite the poor top-order batting,
which I will get back to later on in this article, the West Indies
general performance declined after doing so well in the previous
match. First of all, the team did not field well. At least three easy
chances went ah-begging. Yes! I said three, because that first chance,
when Darren Bravo completely misjudged the catch, was almost
unforgivable on his part. No excuse about losing sight of the ball
or strong breeze blowing across the field must be accepted. At this
level, catches like these should not be misjudged or dropped. By
now the players must know that ‘catches win matches’. They have
seen that time and time again, and must be consistent in this area.
That is one of the reasons I am so pleased to see Fabian Allen back
in the team. He is a great asset to the team and his energy and
prowess in the field will certainly motivate others to improve in this
area.
The captaincy of Keiron Pollard must also come in for some
criticism. Why change from the tactics used in the first match? The
fast bowling pair in Sheldon Cottrell and Jason Holder should
have been given at least another over or two in the beginning,
particularly Jason who was taken off after bowling just 1 over for 1
run. And to think that Jason bowled so well in the first match. I
personally think the spinners should have been allowed to
come into the attack a bit later where they could make
good use of an older ball. And why was Odean
Smith side-lined? Is he in the team only as a
low-order finisher? He was not even given
one single over. What good would this
do to his confidence? In my previous article, I had given
Pollard a 2 out of 10 for his captaincy in the previous series
West Indies had played. I lifted it to a 5 after the first match
but sadly it goes right back to a 2, after this disappointing
effort from him. I just hope we would see a much-improved
effort from Pollard in the remaining matches of this series.
He is a very experienced cricketer and MUST do better!
And now, back to the batting. West Indies top-order
batsmen continue to struggle and it is putting immense
pressure on the lower order. The bowlers are trying, but
I see little effort from our top-order batsmen to improve.
There are still too many dot balls, particularly in the first
power play. Our batsmen are still finding it difficult to
rotate the strike to keep the scoreboard ticking. Brandon
King did impress me in the first T20 but sadly he couldn’t
continue in that same vein on Sunday. Shai Hope continues
to show his immense talent and class as a batsman but
we want to see better scores from him. Nicholas Pooran
who in my opinion is one of the better strikers of the ball
and is a gifted batsman is still not in good form. We are
seeing glimpses of his remarkable ability but that is not
enough. I think poor shot selection continues to be one
of Pooran’s main problems. He needs to do much better.
And what about Darren Bravo, a surprise inclusion in the
T20 team? To me, still looks like a mere ‘shadow of his
former self’ and is not impressing me enough to be
considered a regular member of this T20 team. I hope he
proves me wrong. Maybe when Evin Lewis rejoins the team
and Shimron Hetmyer gets his fitness issues addressed to
come back into the team we may see better performances
from West Indies going forward. Both players have shown
how valuable they can be to the team, and our batting
could well do with some more ‘teeth’, especially when
we face top teams like England. I must also mention the
batting of captain Keiron Pollard. To say he owes the
team plenty runs is an understatement. He continues to
be so inconsistent, yet we all know the power he has as a
big hitter of the ball. Let us hope we see some big innings
from him soon. I believe he still has a few years of cricket
left in him before we see the role of captaincy passing to a
younger player for both formats of the game. I want to also
take this opportunity to wish the new panel of selectors all
the best and hope that the hopefully ‘new’ selection policy
will ensure that the best team takes the field of play for all
future series.
I can’t end before commenting on the bowling of Jason
Holder. His bowling effort in the first T20 was simply
remarkable. With magnificent figures of 4 for 7 off 3.4
overs, he deservedly won the ‘Player of the Match’
award, even though I also commended Brandon King
for that brilliant half-century which ensured that West
Indies went on to win comfortably. But Jason was
impressive. His line and length were impeccable and
he used the conditions to good effect. I only hope that
he produces more with the bat as the series continues.
England is a formidable opponent and will come hard at
the West Indies for the remaining matches in this series.
Their T20 squad is a rich blend of very talented and
experienced players and the West Indies must prepare
well and be determined to show greater improvement
when they face England tomorrow Wednesday and then
for the two days of the weekend.
Before I end though, let me say how pleased I was to see
the way the West Indies lower-order batsmen took the
fight to England, almost snatching victory from the jaws
of defeat. Akeal Hosein was magnificent in that last over.
He has surely cemented his place in the side, not only
with his top-class spin bowling but he has now shown
that he is a very capable lower-order batsman. There is
some potential in this T20 team and one hopes that the
glaring weaknesses would be ironed out, particularly
at the top of the order, and we see greater all-round
performances from the team in this series and beyond.