In their quest to become the ICC 2024 T20 World Cup champions and the tournament’s first ever three-time title winner, the West Indies must play a total of nine matches and be victorious in at least eigth. Four Group Stage matches, three Super Eight encounters, one semi-final and, of course, the Final. That’s the sum total of matches any of this tournament’s twenty participating teams, West Indies included, will have to play if they are to claim the championship title.
Of those, the semi-final and Final will of course be must-win requirements. Even before then though, three of the four Group Stage matches, and arguably the identical number of Super Eight victories will most likely be the standard requirement even to ensure progression to the knockout semi-final.
The West Indies’s campaign has started relatively smoothly with fairly comfortable victories in both of their first two Group Stage matches. The June 2 encounter with Papua New Guinea, played at Guyana’s National Stadium, saw the West Indies eventually emerging as comfortable victors. Winning by a margin of 5 wickets with one full over remaining.
After the West Indies bowlers had restricted Papua New Guinea to 136/8 off its twenty overs, the batters comfortably surpassed the victory target for the loss of only five wickets. At 97/5 after 16 overs, there must have been some jitters within the West Indies’ dugout though, but Man-of-the-Match Roston Chase assuredly dispelled any such concerns with a composed, undefeated, 42, made off of 27 balls with two sixes and four boundaries included.
Next up for the West Indies was Uganda on June 8, again at Guyana’s Providence National Stadium. An encounter that proved to be a colossal mismatch.
Having scored 173/5 off the twenty allocated overs, the West Indies then skittled their African opponents for just 39. The tied lowest-ever score in T20 World Cup history.
Akeal Hosein, opening the bowling with his left arm spin and bowling unchanged was the chief West Indies destroyer claiming 5/11 from his four overs. Earlier when the West Indies had batted, opener Johnson Charles top scored with 44, made off of 42 balls inclusive of two sixes and four boundaries.
The PNG and Uganda encounters were always likely to be the least challenging of the West Indies’ four Group Stage matches. Two far more challenging assignments will now follow with perennial powerhouse New Zealand to be faced on June 12. Followed by the ever-dangerous Afghanistan five days later on June 17.
The West Indies-New Zealand fixture will be played at Trinidad & Tobago’s Brian Lara Cricket Academy. St Lucia’s Daren Sammy National Stadium will be the venue for the Afghanistan encounter.
West Indies will be hoping that their off-spinning trio of Roston Chase, Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Motie will prove effective in restricting the Kiwi’s batting on the usually spin-friendly Academy track. The Daren Sammy’s much more pacier strip should prove similarly conducive to the West Indies seamers against Afghanistan. So much so that the West Indies Selectors may well be tempted to include Shamar Joseph, as a fourth seamer and at Gudakesh Motie’s expense, to make the most of the St Lucian bowling conditions.
Shai Hope as a replacement for Johnson Charles as Brandon King’s opening partner at the top of the West Indies batting order, could be one of two other possible lineup changes for the West Indies by the time their campaign gets to St Lucia. Shimron Hetmyer for his fellow Guyanese Sherfayne Rutherford as the West Indies number six batter being the other. Presuming, of course, that the outcome of the preceding June 12 match against the Kiwis ends in the West Indies favor.
West Indies, Afghanistan, and New Zealand would appear to be the three countries contesting for the two available Group C spots for progression t0 the tournament’s Super 8, which will then be comprised of two groups of four teams each. With wins already secured from their first two matches, victory in at least one 0f their remaining fixtures, against either New Zealand or Afghanistan if not both, should be sufficient to see the West Indies safely through to the Super 8s. That’s when the real fun will begin with competition for the two available semi-final spots expected to be of the fiercest most competitive standard.
Two down, six to go. Two initial hurdles comfortably cleared. Six far more intimidating and challenging others, soon to follow.
In their quest to become the ICC 2024 T20 World Cup champions and the tournament’s first ever three-time title winner, the West Indies must play a total of nine matches and be victorious in at least eigth. Four Group Stage matches, three Super Eight encounters, one semi-final and, of course, the Final. That’s the sum total of matches any of this tournament’s twenty participating teams, West Indies included, will have to play if they are to claim the championship title.