What on Earth is wrong with West Indies Cricket
The only two-time winners of the T20 World Cup, the West Indies, have gone crashing out in the first round of the 2022 edition. After losing in a horror show to Scotland in their opener, the “Windies” faced a must-win game against huge underdogs Ireland. What ensued was the most embarrassing end to a T20 World Cup in Windies history, the only time a former champion has failed to reach the “Super 12”. So what led to this disappointing decline?
Let’s rewind the clock. In the leadup to the World Cup, there were already several big talking points surrounding the Windies squad. Stalwart Andre Russell was left out of the squad with chief selector Desmond Haynes remarking, “We’re still not convinced yet, he’s not performing as well as we would like to see him in the competition”.
The other high-profile omission came in the form of Shimron Hetmyer, captain of the Guyana Amazon Warriors. Hetmeyer’s exclusion, unlike Russells’, had nothing to do with form. Instead, coming off the back of a missed flight. This led Jimmy Adams, director of cricket for CWI, to assert, “we are not prepared to compromise the team’s ability to prepare for this extremely important global event”.
The question then becomes about desire. There have been whispers for quite some time surrounding the Windies players and if they care enough about these international events, and while it’s difficult to say, it’s a valid concern. Whether the inclusion of Hetmyer would’ve made much difference to the Windies’ results is another debate, and hindsight is 20/20.
However, it certainly wouldn’t do more harm than good and one could argue CWI should’ve done everything in their power to get Hetmyer to Australia. With this fiasco occurring so close to an event, fans feared it would have an adverse effect on the squad and their preparation, and they were right.
Nevertheless, with the overwhelming talent present in the Windies squad and the perceived strength of their group, they were most certainly backed to make it to the Super 12.However, their first outing in the competition would serve as a wake-up call, being dominated by Scotland in a 42-run drubbing. The West Indies came out swinging in their second game against Zimbabwe and pulled out a compelling 31-run victory, leaving their final game as a winner-takes-all against the Irish.
What was supposed to be a platform for the Windies to carry better form into the next round quickly turned into one of, if not the greatest, day in Ireland’s T20 history. The West Indies were not just beaten, they were utterly dismantled by Ireland. It was dominance personified, and Ireland won by nine wickets, sending the twice champions home with their pride in tatters. Skipper Nicholas Pooran was left to reflect on the Windies’ performance after their exit from the tournament and insisted they didn’t bat well enough.
https://twitter.com/SkyCricket/status/1583359331432398848?s=20&t=WEQCdNBUu6gczPRmGFRlNQ
This fell in line with the consensus from West Indies fans and the Cricket West Indies President Ricky Skerritt. In a statement following their final game, Skerritt lamented, “The ongoing inability of our batsmen to prevail over opposing slow bowling continued to be an obvious weakness in Australia”. The biggest takeaway from his statement was his stance that the Windies’ poor shot selections throughout the tournament are a result of it being embedded into their culture.
Former West Indies bowler Sir Andy Roberts shared Skerritt’s sentiments on the matter and questioned the players’ pride. In a segment on Good Morning JoJo in Antigua, Sir Andy was extremely critical of the Windies’ batsmen.
He exclaimed, “Right now what we have is a bunch of swipers, not batters. They think that hitting sixes is everything, but the rest of the world shows us that hitting sixes is not the only solution to T20 cricket”. He continued, “It may come down to a lack of pride. Who knows?” Questioning batting tactics and bad habits in-game is one thing. Still Sir Andy, among others, doubting the commitment and desire of the West Indies hints at a potentially bigger problem.
The constant shot-chasing led to the West Indies’ loss in the game against Scotland. Despite starting their chase well, they fell into a hole off the back of more poor shot selection, losing seven wickets for a measly 26 runs. This period saw Pooran, Rovman Powell, and Shamarh Brooks all dismissed in quick succession, trying to make things happen for their team but leaving the Windies at a bleak 77 for six. There was no coming back from that hole.
The Windies have been blessed with a glittering array of batsman talent over the last decade plus. Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, and Kieron Pollard, among others immediately spring to mind. Even so, while the Windies’ aggressive, big-hitting nature brought them to the pinnacle of the T20 game, they risk devolving into obscurity if they do not make a change.
The culture of their batting, their preparation and the overall mentality of the players must take a vast uptick if they are to drag themselves out of this rut. Whether these changes come or not will have a massive impact on the next decade of Cricket West Indies.
