By Tony McWatt
“Every dark cloud has a silver lining!”
A three-nil Series loss, the tenth in succession to their Pakistan hosts, should now be legitimately regarded as a dark cloud of significant proportions hanging over the fortunes of West Indies ODI cricket. Particularly in relation to the team’s preparations for participation in next year’s International Cricket Conference (ICC) 2023 ODI World Cup.
Yet, as indicated in the foregoing quotation, silver linings can always be found at the edges of even the darkest clouds. As such, despite the eventual outcome, there were still many positives to be gleaned from the West Indies team’s performances during the recently concluded three matches Series against their Pakistan hosts!
At the very top of the list of such encouraging signs must be the appreciation that the Series was contested between a full-strength Pakistan, currently the ICC’s fifth-ranked ODI team and playing at home in their own very familiar conditions and a somewhat depleted eight-ranked West Indies squad, bereft of quite a few of its star players. Yet despite that disparity except for the second ODI, the West Indies were at all times, admirably competitive and very much in the contest. So much so, that by all rights they should have won at least the first match, and arguably also the third.
In the first match of the Series, the West Indies batting came to the fore. A welcome return to form century (127) from Shai Hope at the top of the batting order, supported by a Sharmarh Brooks half-century (70), piloted the West Indies to a challenging fifty-overs total of 305/8.
In response, Pakistan despite a century (103) from captain Babar Azam was struggling somewhat, losing their fourth wicket with the score on 256 off the fourth ball of the 45th over. That left them still needing a further 42 runs with only five overs and two balls. An equation which was by then very much in favour of the West Indies bowlers.
Undisciplined bowling, specifically from Romario Shepherd whose 9 overs conceded 70 runs, however, allowed the Pakistan 5th wicket pair of Kushdil Shah (41) and Shadah Khan to add 28 runs off of just two overs and five balls. That effectively wrested control of the match from the West Indies and allowed Pakistan to eventually secure a comfortable, final over, five wickets win with four balls to spare.
While it was their inadequate bowling that had caused the West Indies to lose the first ODI, the blame for the subsequent losses in the second and third matches was undisputedly that of the batsmen. After their disappointing first match, the West Indies bowlers rebounded most admirably to restrict Pakistan to very gettable totals of 275/8 in the second ODI and an even lower 269/9 in the third. The West Indies batsmen, however, proved themselves to be absolutely clueless in their responses falling short of their respective targets by 120 runs in the second ODI and by 55 in the third.
Instead of pacing their responses with measured stroke play to the victory targets that had been set by their Pakistan hosts, the West Indies batsmen were far too inclined to play T2o type “more brawn than brain” shots which inevitably led to their demise. Some of the shot selections at crucial stages of both encounters were sufficiently asinine as to be described as mind- boggling.
Shai Hope (152 runs, HS 127, Avg.50.66), Shamarh Brooks (130 runs, HS 70, Avg.43.33) and Akheal Hosein (82 runs, HS 60 Avg.41) had the best batting returns for the West Indies during the three matches Series. Hope’s return to form after a lengthy run of low scores in previous matches was most welcome, while Brooks at times demonstrated the ability to provide some sense of much-needed stability to the middle order.
Hosein’s runs were, however, by far the most encouraging aspect of the West Indies batting. His role on the team is primarily that of its leading spinner. His demonstrated all-round capabilities as a hard-hitting lower order batsman will, therefore, now provide most welcomed depth to the West Indies batting.
Currently ranked as the ICC’s leading ODI bowler, Hosein also further emphasized his worth by emerging as the West Indies’ highest wicket-taker during the Series. His five wickets captured at an average of 29.00 and at a 4.83 economy rate were marginally higher than that of the chart-topping Alzharri Joseph whose four victims were collared at an impressively low average of 22.00 for a 4.40 economy rate. Joseph regularly and comfortably clocked speeds of between 145 -150 kpm in his spells, demonstrating levels of pace and hostility that will serve him well as the now firmly established spearhead of the West Indies bowling attack.
While Joseph and Hosein’s Series performances can be considered mere confirmations of their known capabilities, the most welcome surprise of the Series was the emergence of skipper Nicholas Pooran’s talents as an off-spinner. Having previously only ever bowled a mere three deliveries in his entire now 43 matches ODI career, Pooran surprisingly introduced himself to the West Indies bowling attack during Pakistan’s first strike innings of the third and final ODI.
It was a moment of impressively innovative leadership, the results of which were simply sensational. From 10 overs of cleverly bowled, unchanged, off-spin Pooran had the incredible returns of 4/48. He succeeded in breaking Pakistan’s opening partnership which before his intervention had been proceeding comfortably at 85 without loss off 16.4 overs. His victims also included Pakistan’s high-scoring opener Imam-ul-Haq who he had caught behind by Shai Hope for 62.
Pooran’s imaginative and instinctive captaincy, as illustrated by his surprising, totally unexpected introduction of himself as a bowler during the third ODI, was another one of the encouraging signs that the West Indies can and should take away from the Series. So too was the reality that again, had their overall cricket been just that more sensible the Series outcome could very well have been much different.
The West Indies can also take heart from the fact that several of their key, more reputable, white-ball players were absent during the Series. Opener Evan Lewis and middle-order batsman Shimron Hetmeyer, the latter having just recently enjoyed a most successful 2022 Indian Premier League tournament, were both unavailable for the Series. So too was the West Indies’ genuinely world-class all-rounder, the team’s former captain, Jason Holder. Fellow all-rounder Fabian Allen and left-arm seamer Obed McCoy were at least two others whose absence made the West Indies team that much weaker.
The good news for the West Indies is that with 80 points from 20 matches played they are now sitting fifth in the ICC’s Super League standings, the top eight teams from which will automatically qualify for next year’s India-hosted ODI World Cup. Hopefully, if they can get their squad up to full strength and learn from the valuable lessons the Pakistan Series would have provided they will obtain the required results from their remaining available matches to indeed secure their automatic 2023 ODI World Cup qualification.
Positive silver lining existence thinking, even amidst the prevailing Pakistan Series loss dark clouds, for a most desirous future outcome!