The West Indies – England December 3-9, 2023 One Day International Series (ODI) ended with the hosts winning by a margin of 2-1. The West Indies won the first and third matches of the series, while their English visitors claimed the second. The series victory against England was the first for the West Indies in ODIs in twenty-five years.
Next up for the West Indies in terms of ODIs will be a visit Down Under this coming January, to take on mighty Australia, the reigning world champions, in another three-match series. Some valuable takeaway lessons that can now be gleaned from the recently concluded series triumph against England may, therefore, now be worthy of consideration.
The first of the five most relevant of the provided takeaways for the West Indies would be the discovery of Brandon King and Alick Atahanze as a very decent opening pair. King, having not played very much cricket within the last two to three months, was understandably rusty, his series aggregate of just 53 runs in his three innings batted providing ample evidence of his lack of match readiness. There were enough glimpses, however brief they may have been, of King’s batting talents within those three innings to provide hope that he will very soon be back in top form.
Athanaze was, by comparison, a delight to watch with stroke play that was at times simply breathtaking. His series aggregate of 115 and 38.33 average was wholly encouraging. Even more so was the reality that both King and Athanaze had strike rates of 80 plus which for ODIs isn’t at all bad. That’s a solid foundation that can be built on.
Takeaway two from the series is undoubtedly that the West Indies middle-order batting lacks consistency and is over-reliant on Shai Hope the captain. Whereas Hope had a series aggregate of 192 runs as well as an overly impressive average of 92, the other batters’ performances paled by comparison. Keacy Carty batting at three could only muster 66 runs from his three innings, one of which was an even half-century in the third and final match. His series aggregate of only 22 is arguably suggestive of his unsuitability as a number three. Whether the neglected thirty-five-year-old veteran Darren Bravo would have fared any better is now, of course, something that will never be known. For the upcoming Australia series, however, Nicholas Pooran should be coerced to come back into the team to occupy the crucial number three spot.
The Guyanese duo of Sherfayne Rutherford, playing in his first ODI series, and Shimron Hetmyer appearing in his umpteenth offered somewhat contrasting views. Rutherford, particularly in the second ODI during which he crafted a very polished 66 albeit in a losing cause, showed enough to suggest that he would be a most worthy long-term investment. Hetmyer by contrast was frustratingly injudicious in his shot selection, resulting in very soft dismissals in two of his three innings. His abysmal series aggregate of 44 and 14.66 average might now justifiably place his seat on the flight to Australia in considerable degree of jeopardy.
The third far more pleasing series takeaway is that in Romario Shepherd and Matthew Forde the West Indies have seemingly discovered two very exciting all-rounders. Shepherd’s lower-order power hitting was by far one of the most delightful aspects of the West Indies performances during the series. Forde’s third-match debut bowing returns of 3/29 – 8 was indicative of his talented potential. With Jason Holder, who opted not to participate in the series, hopefully, set to return for Australia the West Indies will have a very powerful trio of medium-pace bowling/power-hitting batting allrounders as they build toward the 2027 World Cup!
One who should now, however, no longer be included in any such World Cup 2027 rebuilding plans is the leg-spinner Yannic Cariah. Predictably Cariah failed to trouble any of the English batters with his invariable leg-breaks and rarely if ever used googlies. Cariah’s returns of 1/158, at an economy rate of 6.86, were indisputably demonstrative of how colossal a mistake it was by the West Indies Selectors to have preferred him over Hayden Walsh for the series. When the time comes for the very same Selectors to choose the fifteen-member squad to Australia, it’s an error they will, hopefully, be both honest enough to admit and correct. For Walsh and not Cariah to be on the flight to Australia would be the fourth, most important, takeaway from the recently concluded series.
Rounding out the list of the top five series takeaways would be the indication that with a few minor changes of personnel from those chosen for the England series to the squad that should travel to Australia, the West Indies now possess a worthy crop of readily identifiable players that could form the nucleus for their World Cup 2027 preparations. Kjorn Ottley, Roston Chase, and Yannic Cariah should arguably not make the trip to Australia and should instead be replaced by Justin Greaves, Kevin Sinclair, and Hayden Walsh. If Pooran and Holder both return as they hopefully will, the fifteen-member squad for Australia would then read as follows: Brandon King, Alick Athanaze, Justin Greaves, Nicholas Pooran, Shai Hope (captain), Keacy Carty, Sherfayne Rutherford, Kevin Sinclair, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Matthew Forde, Hayden Walsh, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph and Oshane Thomas.
So sorry Hetty, no room on the flight for you! Get back into the gym and nets to lose some weight and regain your batting form!