By David Jackson
The 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will be the
9th edition of the biennial T20 international
tournament. This year the tournament
is scheduled to be co-hosted by the West
Indies and the United States, from June 1 to
June 29 this year.
England are the defending
champions, having defeated Pakistan in the
final in Australia in 2022. In that final, England
defeated Pakistan by five wickets to win their
second ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title. They
drew level with the West Indies who also won
two ICC Men’s T20 World Cup titles. The West
Indies achieved this in 2012 and 2016, under
The captaincy of Darren Sammy. West Indies
was then packed with T20 star players like Chris
Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Dwayne
Bravo and Marlon Samuels, most of whom went
on to become leading players in lucrative T20
franchises, like the IPL.
West Indies selectors are yet to name a 15-
man squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup, and
there continues to be quite heated discussions
across the region regarding the composition
of the squad. The best squad must be chosen
if West Indies are to do well or even go on to
lift the coveted trophy. At present, West Indies
are ranked no. 7 in the ICC T20 Men’s team
ranking. So what are West Indies’ chances of
winning the tournament for the third time?
Let’s first look at the ICC player rankings for
T20s in the categories of batting, bowling and
leading all-rounders. For batting, only two West
Indies batsmen are in the top 20; Brandon King
(14) and Nicholas Pooran (16). In the bowling
department the number is the same. Only two
West Indies bowlers are ranked in the top 20,
Akeal Hosein (2nd in the ranking), and Alzarri
Joseph (ranked 17th). For the all-rounders,
Jason Holder (ranked 14th) is the only West
Indies all-rounder in the top 20. Kyle Mayers
is a distant second. While the rankings do not
in itself indicate the true strength of the team,
they are in some way an indication of the
level of consistency of the players themselves.
It must be noted that consistency is very
important when playing a tournament like this.
Unfortunately, it is an area where West Indies
players continue to struggle, both in the batting
and bowling departments.
Inconsistency could severely hamper West Indies efforts to perform well in the tournament. Former West Indies players,
like Chris Gayle seem confident that West Indies would
do well and could go on to lift the coveted trophy. To
achieve this however, West Indies will have to dig deep
and put in some superb performances throughout the
tournament. There will have to be significant improvement
in all aspects of the game. Our death bowling. It will not
be just ‘a walk in the park’.
The first aim of West Indies would be to qualify from the
group stage. West Indies are in Group D. The other teams
in that group are New Zealand (ranked 4th) in T20s by the
ICC, Afghanistan (ranked 10th), Uganda and Papua New
Guinea. New Zealand, as well as Afghanistan, are likely to
pose a challenge to the West Indies. Afghanistan’s spin
attack could be a major problem to the West Indies as
some of the batsmen have often struggled against good
spin bowling. Here is where players like Nicholas Pooran
and Shai Hope who are good players would be important.
West Indies must set good game plans and have backup
plans, when necessary.
As it stands, the following 14 players are almost certain to be included in the squad for
West Indies for the 2024 ICC World Cup: Rovman Powell
(captain), Brandon King, Johnson Charles, Nicholas
Pooran, Shai Hope, Sherfane Rutherford, Andre Russell,
Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Akeal
Hossein, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Jospeph and Shamar
Joseph, Andre Russell, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd
may all be considered all-rounders.
Roston Chase, will no doubt, perform the role of a bowling all-rounder, with
Akeal Hosein perform the role of a bowling all-rounder,
with Motie included as the second spinner. There is
therefore need for one more batsman in the squad. The
choice could be between Shimron Hetmyer and Kyle
Mayers.
Mayers has the added advantage of being able
to bowl, if needed, but he has two problems; his injudicious
strokeplay and deficiency in batting technique. He has
sadly become more of a liability than an asset.
Probably though, if he is given the opportunity
to play and produces some explosive knocks for
his franchise in the on-going IPL he may just get
into the world cup, ahead of Hetmyer. Shimron
Hetmyer, himself has been struggling for runs. His
confidence is low. He needs a few good knocks
to convince the selectors that he should be
added to the World Cup squad.
Finally, let us address the issue regarding the likely
inclusion of Shamar Joseph. I am almost certain
that he will be included in the squad for the T20
World Cup, even if he does not set the stage
alight in the IPL (when he gets the opportunity
to play). Shamar will likely be the X factor in the
squad. I cannot see him being omitted. Obed
McCoy has lost form and needed to play a few
more T20 matches before the World to for an
assessment to be made in terms of his ‘readiness’
for the tournament.
Oshane Thomas, on the other hand, who was included in the West Indies squad
in the recent T20 series against Australia, is unlikely
to retain his place in the squad for the ICC T20
World Cup. Thomas who made his international
debut for West Indies in October 2018, had shown
much promise as a quick bowler. So much so that
in August 2019, he was named “Emerging Player
of the Year’ by Cricket West Indies.
Oshane, however, has not exactly lived up to
expectations. He still struggles to maintain good
‘line and length’ and he continues, from time
to time to have a problem of overstepping the
crease. At the age of 27, if he remains fit, he will
still have the opportunity to fight his way back into
the West Indies T20 team.