Successive losses, first to Zimbabwe followed
by the previously unthinkable submission
to the Netherlands, all but scuttled the
West Indies hopes of qualifying for the ICC
2023 World Cup to be played in India this coming
October-November. The losses left the West
Indies with zero carryover points heading into the
Zimbabwe Qualifier’s Super Six competition, from
which the top two teams will progress to India
World Cup tournament participation.
Many of the West Indies fans who took to Facebook
to vent their anger, frustration, disappointment, and
utter embarrassment following the Netherlands loss
were inclined to lay the blame for the entire debacle
solely at the feet of Head Coach Darren Sammy.
Citing Sammy’s highly controversial appointment, the
expressed view was that the World Cup Qualifier
tournament had proven itself to be a bridge too far
for him. Confirming the belief, held by many, that he
would be found wanting and out of his depth when
faced with must-win match situations at the highest
level.
According to Sammy, the primary reason for the
Zimbabwe loss had been the very poorly provided
supportive West Indies fielding, which featured
as many as six dropped catches. In total, tallying
the eventual scores of the reprieved Zimbabwe
batsmen, those six dropped catches cost the West
Indies as many as 111 extra runs.
And yet it was the very same highly commended
bowling unit that initially failed utterly to defend the
mammoth 374 the West Indies batsmen had set as
their first-strike fifty-over total against the Netherlands.
In a demonstrated masterclass of how to properly
chase a formidable total, the Netherlands’ batsmen
eventually tied the scores off the final ball of their 50th
over, forcing the first ever Super Over in World Cup
Qualification tournament history.
Netherlands’ all-rounder Logan van Beek struck
Holder for three sixes and an equal number of fours to
post a seemingly insurmountable 30 in their first-strike
Super Over. Insurmountable it proved to be, as the
West Indies lost first Johnson Charles then Romario
Shepherd first ball with only eight runs having been
scored, as the Netherlands clinched victory. While the
two-time former World Cup champions West Indies
were left cringing in the utter embarrassment!
In all fairness to Sammy, no matter how good a coach
he might be, his effectiveness will always be subject to
the quality of the personnel that he has been handed.
The West Indies team which has now seemingly failed
to qualify for the World Cup, was hoisted on Sammy
and not of his choosing! As such there should be some
limit to his accountability for the teams’ demonstrated
failure to properly execute the plans that had been
established as requirements for victory. In all three
departments, batting, bowling, and fielding, the West
Indies were found wanting.
16. 114 Bim Bits
The persons who should be deemed culpable for the West
Indies’ Harare Horror would-be Selection Chair Desmond
Haynes and his Co-Selector Roland Butcher. Since his January
2022 appointment, Haynes’ chosen squads have been
inevitably increasingly controversial.
The squad handed to Sammy, which has now been found
wanting, was entirely of Haynes and Butcher’s choosing.
Haynes should have been much better prepared for the
tournament and the West Indies’ scheduled opponents in
terms of his chosen players.
Haynes’ accountability for the likely embarrassing World Cup
non-qualification should now raise very serious questions over
his continued suitability for the Chairmanship role. At the very
least, it should have by now also become palpably obvious to
Cricket West Indies President Dr. Kishore Shallow, that the
current three-member Selection Panel is no longer viable!
One immediate remedial outcome of the Zimbabwe disaster
must be the expansion of the West Indies Selection Panel from
three to five members. Jamaica’s Jeffrey Dujon and Trinidad &
Tobago’s Tony Gray are two readily identifiable former West
Indies Test and ODI players who can now be added to the
Panel in time for the selection of the respective squads to face
India in the upcoming 2023 Home Series.
Failure to qualify for the ODI World Cup for the very first time
in the tournament’s 48-year history must now be considered
the lowest of the lows for West Indies cricket. It cannot be
allowed to sink any lower.