The West Indies’ recent triumphant 3-2 T20 series victory over visiting India was
greeted with joy throughout the Caribbean and even further beyond to the
diaspora as well. The long-awaited series triumph, over the much higher ICCranked
opponent India, has also created hopes of the West Indies emerging as
champions when the 2024 T20 World Cup is jointly staged in the Caribbean and USA
next June.
The fulfillment of any such lofty ambition must, however, be prefaced by the
implementation and near-flawless execution of a meticulously crafted five-point
strategic plan. The identifiable components of which would be a) the selection of the
very best available fifteen-member squad; b) the development of specific strategies
to be executed at various stages of matches being played by
both the team’s batters and bowlers; c) the chosen squad’s
engagement in a four-week army-type tournament preparation
Boot Camp; d) the preparation of wickets that would allow
the West Indies team to play its matches on surfaces that are
ideally suited to its batting and bowling strengths and finally e)
for all West Indies matches to be played in front of massively
supportive home crowd spectators.
With less than a year to go before the 2024 T20 World Cup
officially gets underway next June, the Selectors should by now
have a fairly good idea as to the likely composition of the West
Indies 15-member World Cup squad. Barring injury or unforeseen
unavailability captain Rovman Powell will most likely be joined by
Brandon King, Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmeyer,
Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh
Motie, Alzarri Joseph and Obed McCoy. That’s arguably eleven
undroppables of the required fifteen-member squad with the
remaining four spots still open for would-be contenders to state
their claims for inclusion.
With the fifteen-member squad having been selected, the very
next requirement will be for the coaching staff and captain to
develop the types of plans and strategies for the West Indies to
deploy against their respective opponents. These will include
choices of personnel for the final playing XI as well as the
identification of specified roles for each chosen player.
England are set to tour the West Indies for white ball matches
this coming December. Three T20 matches are also included
on the schedule for next year’s January 16 – February 13 visit
Down Under to Australia. The West Indies will, therefore, have
several near-perfect dress rehearsal opportunities to sample the
effectiveness of their final XI compositions and match-winning
plans. By the end of the Australian tour, therefore, all the kinks
should have been well ironed out!
The squad will, however, also be required to acquire maximum
fitness. A pre-tournament military-styled boot camp to be held
sometime during the three March-May months before the World
Cup’s June commencement should, therefore, become a key
component of the overall Win’24 Strategic Plan.
The primary objectives of the camp would be for the
squad to spend time bonding and gelling as a cohesive
unit. The camp would also be geared towards allowing
every squad member to achieve their optimum fitness
levels. By the time the camp is over the team should
also have become impressively athletic in their ground
fielding, deadly accurate in their throwing, and
superbly competent in catching.
Component number four of the Win’24 Strategic Plan
will involve the West Indies Selectors and Head Coach
engaged in consultations and conversations with
the curators for the respective tournament venues to
ensure that the team plays all its matches on pitches
that are most suitable to its batting and bowling
strengths.
Win’24’s developed Strategic Plan’s fifth and final
component must be for the West Indies team to be
playing every one of its World Cup matches in front of
stadiums packed with full capacity crowds comprised
of at least 75-80% of its supporters. Said supporters
should also be clad in maroon and yellow shirts
developed by Cricket West Indies (CWI) specifically
for the World Cup and sold to registered team fans at
a significantly discounted and universally affordable
price.
The tourism ministries and boards of the respective
hosting venues should also be invited to be fully involved,
as a means of ensuring that as many diaspora-based
Caribbean cricket fans are encouraged to “cum back
home fuh de cricket!”
The journey towards the West Indies once becoming
T20 World Cup champions, for an unprecedented third
time and ideally on home soil, is certainly one worth
taking. As such the development and implementation
of any strategic plan such as that suggested herein
as part of that journey and towards the realization of
its ultimate objective West Indies 2024 T20 World Cup
Championship glory should now be equally worth
pursuing.