The ICC 2022 T20 World Cup tournament is scheduled to take place from
October 16 to November 13, in Australia. The tournament consists
of 45 matches across the following venues: Adelaide, Brisbane,
Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. The semi-finals
will be hosted at the Sydney Cricket Ground and Adelaide Oval on the
9th and 10th of November, while the final will be played under lights at
the MCG on 13 November 2022. The tournament will begin with
a 6-day group stage to determine the final four teams to qualify
for the Super 12. Australia (the host), Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
England, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, and South Africa have
already been confirmed in the Super 12s, but the West Indies will have to qualify
from the group stage in the Qualifier phase to advance to the Super 12 stage of
the tournament. West Indies are in Group B along with Scotland, Ireland, and UAE,
while the teams in Group A are: Sri Lanka, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and the Netherlands.
The winner and runner-up teams of both Group A and Group B will qualify for the
super 12. There would be 15 practice (warm-up) matches before the Qualifier and
Super 12 matches, which are scheduled to take place from October 10 to October 19 in
Melbourne. The last seven warm-up matches will involve the teams in the Super 12 and
will be played while the group stage is still in progress. West Indies will play two warm-up
practice matches. The first, on the 10th of October against UAE, and the second against
Netherlands on the 12th of October.
There would be 15 practice (warm-up) matches before the Qualifier and
Super 12 matches, which are scheduled to take place from October 10 to October 19 in
Melbourne. The last seven warm-up matches will involve the teams in the Super 12 and
will be played while the group stage is still in progress. West Indies will play two warm-up
practice matches. The first, on the 10th of October against UAE, and the second against
Netherlands on the 12th of October.
The West Indies are the only team to have won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup twice.
This they did in Sri Lanka in 2012 and then in India in 2016. West Indies’ campaign to win
an unprecedented third ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title, starts on October 17, when
they take on Scotland in the first of three Group B fixtures played at the Bellerive Oval,
in Hobart, Tasmania. West Indies other group matches would be against Zimbabwe on
October 19 and then Ireland on October 21.
Before the start of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, the West Indies will meet home team
Australia in a two-match bilateral T20 International (T20I) series on October 5 at the
Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast and on October 7 at the Gabba, in Brisbane.
How ready is West Indies for the World cup and what are the chances of West Indies
doing well in the tournament? Things have changed in the T20 format. It is now not only
about ‘power-hitting’, which the West Indies has mastered in the past; a good anchoring
batsman will surely be needed in difficult times. When the West Indies team won the
2012 and 2016 world cup they had anchor batsmen like Marlon Samuels who knew how
to finish a game. Do we have such a player now?
Let us take a good look at the squad of players selected, first to try to identify a possible ‘anchor batsman
and then to examine other areas which could affect the success of the team. In
the present squad, there appears to be no such player to anchor the team in
times of trouble. Yes, there are potential ‘anchor’ players, but sadly none have
really stood out. Can we dare to rest our confidence on players like Evin Lewis,
Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer and to a lesser extent Jason Holder? I wont
be sticking my neck out now, for any of the four. Enough said on that.
Lets now look at the top order batting line-up. There are
four openers: the very experienced Evin Lewis, Johnson
Charles, Kyle Mayers, and Brandon King. Evin Lewis who is still
considered the leading T20 opener had a generally mediocre
CPL this year. He would still however be considered the first
choice for one of the two opening positions. Kyle Mayers,
Brandon King and Johnson Charles would be vying for that
second spot. All three have performed creditably in this year’s
CPL. Johnson Charles, in particular, has been quite impressive.
He is among the leading run-scorers in the tournament. That,
coupled with his wealth of experience in the T20 format, is
probably why he was considered by the selectors for this
year’s world cup. Really, I never thought I would have seen
him wearing maroon colours again, but he really deserved to
be in the squad based on his splendid performances in
the CPL. He seems more likely now to open the batting with
Evin Lewis, leaving Kyle Mayers and Brandon King to battle
for the second opening position. Kyle Mayers has come in
for some criticism though, mainly in the way he sometimes
approaches his batting. When he is ‘on sound’ he looks good,
but too often his shot selection is poor, and he gets out too
silly shots, too regular for my liking. In the spin department
Akeal Hosein has distinguished himself as a top class spinner
and that is so reassuring. The West Indies are unlikely to play
the second spinner (Cariah) though, unless the conditions are
favourable for spin. West Indies will rely heavily on a quartet
of fast bowlers; namely Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Obed
McCoy and Odean Smith/Sheldon Cottrell.
For me, one of the major concerns of West Indies going into
the World Cup is the form of the captain, Nicholas Pooran.
He is clearly struggling with the bat at the moment and that
is indeed cause for great concern. The West Indies will be
looking to him, as well as Shimron Hetmyer, to give more
‘teeth’ to the middle order at 4 and 5. The two are immensely
talented players but have not been producing of late. They
are important to West Indies in the batting line-up and one
hopes that they will ‘shine’ brightly in this World Cup. Rovman
Powell, the vice-captain, has performed reasonably well in the
recent matches he has played. He is expected to take the no.
6 position, followed by Jason Holder at and then the bowlers.
West Indies should make it out of the group stage. They
will however face stiff competition if they reach the Super
12 stage of the tournament. The leading teams in the Super
12 are virtually at full strength. It will take solid, disciplined
efforts from the West Indies in all three departments: batting,
bowling, and fielding for the team to do well in the Super 12
and advance to the semi-finals and hopefully the finals. This
writer wishes the team well. Could they possibly surprise us
and lift that coveted trophy? Only time will tell.