By David Jackson
In their last two matches in the World Cup
Qualifier, West Indies ODI team suffered
humiliating defeats, first against Zimbabwe
on June 24th, and then two days later against
Netherlands. The loss against Netherlands
was particularly hurtful, as the West Indies
had put up a challenging target of 374. No
way should the team lose that match against
such a low ranked team. Netherlands are
ranked 15th just above USA. West Indies are
ranked 10th. They are the second highest
ranked team of those presenting playing in this tournament. Only
Sri Lanka are ranked higher that West Indies.
So for West Indies to lose consecutive matches, against two teams ranked lower than
them; that in itself is embarrassing. What hurts the most though
is how the Netherlands chased down that target and went on to
defeat the West Indies in the Super Over. West Indies did not
bowl well and the fielding was atrocious. There were also some
questionable decisions made towards the end of the match.
Consistency remains a main issue for West Indies. The bowling
will come good in one match while the batting fails. Another time,
the batsmen perform while the bowlers fail. This has been going
on for too long now. The last two results clearly show that our
players are not mentally prepared for International cricket. The
talent is there yes, but the mental toughness is sadly lacking. We
cannot continue like this. It is time for hard decisions to be made.
There needs to be a massive overhaul. Drastic measures are
needed if we are to see major improvement.
In the first case the entire selection panel should be replaced. The
best team was not selected for this tournament. Favouritism and
decisions by the selectors seemed to have been two of the main
reasons for that. How could one justify the inclusion of players
like Sharmarh Brookes and Roston Chase? Neither should have
been in the squad. Then there was that bewildering decision to
call up Johnson Charles to replace an injured Motie when the
obvious replacement should have been Kevin Sinclair. And I keep
stating that Rovman Powell is better suited to T20 cricket. He
is not ODI material, and he continues to have problems playing
spin.
There must also be a change at the top of the batting order.
No way should Kyle Mayers be allowed to open the batting. He
should be dropped down the order to positions
5 or 6, or be dropped from the team altogether.
Conversations have to be had with Shimron
Hetymer and Evin Lewis. We need both back in
the team to give more ‘teeth’ to the batting. Allick
Athanaze has to be in the first team for the ODI
series against India. I cannot see him being just a
passenger again. He has been very consistent over
the two seasons and should be given his chance to
prove himself. We want more consistency from
our batting!
My greatest concerns however, are in the bowling
and fielding departments. There is a general lack
of energy in the field and there were too many
drop catches. West Indies have to do much better
than this. We have been the worse fielding side in
this tournament and it is not good. Not good at
all.
Our bowling is also a major issue. The bowling
was generally poor. Alzarri Joseph is definitely our
best bowler, but he needs help. He cannot do it
alone. We need another strike bowler to partner
with him in those opening overs. Early wickets
are always essential in ODIs. It places immense
pressure on the batting side, curtails the run-rate
and gives the advantage to the bowling side. Jason
Holder, though economical at times, lacks venom.
It is obvious that our bowling is not effective.
Greater emphasis must be put in this area or will
continue to lose matches. So how can we attempt
to solve this problem? Simple. We have to pick
better bowlers, Besides the spinners we need
wicket-takers fast bowlers. There are several
quicks the selectors could look to for the ODI
format of the game.
Jayden Seales who should be returning from
injury, Akeem Jordan and probable Jair McAlister
should be among the front-runners. We also
need bowlers with good Variations, who can be
useful in claiming wickets and breaking partnerships. It
is a pity Obed McCoy is so injury-prone. He could have
been a great addition to the team.
I haven’t seen much of Oshane Thomas lately. Here was a bowler who I
thought would have gone on to do quite well for the
West Indies on the International scene. Is it too late for
him to make a comeback? Someone told me he has lost
some weight. I remember when I first saw him in 2017
he had the ingredients to be a destructive fast bowler.
He was strongly built, with a fast action, a mean bouncer
and deadly yorker. He also had the ability to swing the
ball at express pace. But how did I reach here discussing
Oshane?
Now is not the time for ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ or going
back to players who have already failed. Now is the time
to look ahead at the new emerging players who could,
and in some cases should, be added to our ODI squad
as we remove the failures. Players like Kirk Mckenzie
and Kevlon Anderson who are showing much promise.
Time for a massive overhaul! We are already at the at
the lowest depth we could reach. The only movement
now is up.