By David Jackson
The performances of West Indies in the T20 World
Cup 2021 thus far has been extremely disappointing,
but with this close win over Bangladesh in their third
group match there is now a glimmer of hope for
them to advance to the next stage of the tournament. Really,
it would have been a bitter pill to swallow if, as the defending
champions, West Indies was knocked out in the group stage
of the tournament. The team was humiliated by England in its
first group match of the Super Six phase of the tournament. It
was a shockingly pathetic display of batting by the West Indies.
England didn’t have much difficulty in securing victory, though
losing four wickets. The target was only 55. In its second group
match, West Indies was comprehensively defeated by South
Africa, though the African team was missing one of its leading
batsmen, Quinton De Kock. One of the main problems of the
West Indies is its general inability to adapt. In this tournament,
West Indies needed to temper its awesome power-hitting ability
with sensible batting. Shot selection and rotation of strike is
extremely important in a tournament like this. The size of the
ground and the lengths of the boundaries also dictated this. It
is important to build partnerships and reduce the percentage of
dot balls rather than look to hit every ball for a boundary. The
strength of the West Indies is its boundary-hitting ability, but it
often is its Achilles heel, when not done properly. The tactics of
the West Indies in this regard has therefore been poor.
Besides England and South Africa, the other opponents of the
West Indies in group 1 are: Australia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Australia defeated both South Africa and Sri Lanka in the two group matches it has
played thus far, to sit comfortably in second place in the group, with England topping
the group. This victory over Bangladesh by West Indies, breathes some life into the
team. Can the West Indies now go on to win the remaining two matches in this group
to give the team an outside chance to qualify for the next phase of the tournament?
Cricket is indeed a highly unpredictable game. Anything could still happen from here
on.
On paper, West Indies did appear to be a rather strong unit. Many viewed the squad
as a rich blend of highly experienced and young promising players. Some fans who saw
no errors in the selection, and were convinced that the selectors did a superb job, were
shocked at the first two defeats by England and South Africa. But why should they
have been shocked? Prior to the start of the tournament, there were several areas of
concern for the West Indies, besides the obvious errors in selection. A number of the
West Indies batsmen were struggling for form or fitness. Simmons, for instance, was
in poor form prior to the tournament, and should never have been in the X1 ahead
of Chase. He struggled so much in the first two matches, drying up the runs up and
putting too much pressure on the other batsman, particularly Evin Lewis. Chris Gayle
didn’t look the part at number 3. I had said before that he should only be in the X1 if
he opens the batting. That too did not make a difference today and I now wonder if
it makes any sense playing him in the X1 for the next match. But then, who would be
his replacement? An ‘out of form’ Lendl Simmons or an unimpressive Andre Fletcher?
Chris may just get another opportunity to prove himself. Nicholas Pooran had been
struggling for form, but his knock today shows the quality of the player. It is a pity the
team lost the services of Fabian Allen. What an asset he was for the team in all three
disciplines; batting, fielding and bowling! Hetmyer, despite his immense talent and
potential as a batsman, has not been having a great tournament. In the previous two
matches, he got starts but seems unable to control his ultra-aggressive approach and
therefore gave his wicket away on both occasions, and in this
third match, he failed again.
A major disappointment for me is the situation
regarding Obed McCoy. McCoy emerged as
one of the bright talents for West Indies in this
format of the game, but was affected by injury
a couple of months ago, and had to pull out of the
CPL. Was he fit enough to be included in the West
Indies squad West Indies for this T20 World Cup
tournament? It is a big blow to the West Indies to lose
him at this stage of the tournament. The Vincentian-born
left-arm pace bowler has great potential and ability as a T20
bowler, and he is still only 24 years old. With experience, he
should improve even more and become a skillful and effective
T20 bowler, if he remains injury-free. Like Dwayne Bravo, he
has a lot of variations up his sleeves and often uses the slower
deliveries to outwit batsmen. He is especially quite useful
in the ‘death overs’, which is very important for this format.
Great to see Jason Holder back in the squad. He is a welcomed
replacement for the injured McCoy, and there is still Ravi
Rampaul who has bowled reasonably well thus far, clearly
justifying his inclusion in the squad. Rampaul earned a recall to
the West Indies T20 squad following his good performances
in the recently concluded CPL and this has probably given him
the confidence to perform well.
The other quick bowler in the squad is Oshane Thomas. He
is in the squad seemingly to provide that lethal attack when
needed during the tournament. Sadly, he looks unprepared
and ineffective in the warm-up match against Afghanistan,
bowling too many no balls and having serious problems with
his line and length. He has to correct these flaws if he is to
contribute in any meaningful way in this tournament. There
would be little margin for error as the tournament progresses.
The runout of Andre Russell today was unfortunate. West
Indies needs him in crucial matches like these to set formidable
targets for its opponents. Russell however, remains a great
asset to the team because of his awesome power-hitting
ability and his contribution as a bowler. Great last over by
him in this thrilling encounter against Bangladesh. Let us all
hope that he and his other teammates produce more magic in
the remaining matches in the group stage of the tournament.
This welcomed victory should do much to lift the spirits
and boost the confidence of the West Indies as the team
battles to stay alive in the tournament. Good luck West
Indies.
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