Honestly speaking where 2017 stands, it hasn’t all been a disaster for the West Indies, currently hiding behind the bushes to escape another defeat from New Zealand. They managed to defeat India at home in a solitary ODI, defeated Pakistan convincingly at Barbados their favourite fortress, hammered England impressively at Headingly before losing out the series post which they would lose all ODI games save one and win a one-off T20.
The West Indies also hosted England at home earlier. It was miserable. It was all forgettable. Just too easy for Joe Root and company. Overall, the West Indies have played a lot of cricket in 2017. Apart from garnering memorable victories against Pakistan and England in Tests, they’ve beaten Zimbabwe comfortably and played a great deal of Cricket.
Everybody’s favourite punching bags- perhaps for no fault of spectators- are now in New Zealand where they’ve already been hammered twice in Tests. Having already begun the ODI series on a losing note, the West Indies, now powered by the return of Gayle and Evin Lewis would want to finish off the year with something handy. Perhaps, something sizeable and more meaningful that just a one-off victory in an ODI or T20.
Where are the string of consistent victories, fans wonder? What’s happened to the spectacle where the West Indies would win games in succession. Wasn’t that a light years ago?
If the West Indies happen to lose the ODI series, which according to popular perception might as well be true, they would plummet further down the ICC rankings. There’s no way in which their ODI game has improved. Not one bit. Those defeats earlier in the year at home against England and then in England didn’t help their case. Surprisingly, in 3 games out of 4, they went on to compile totals in excess of 250. Having Gayle and Lewis explode at the top helped their batting but conceding too many extras at the expense of inexperienced neophytes in Alzarri Joseph, Miguel Cummins and Ashley Nurse didn’t exactly help.
One cannot expect the lacklustre performance to continue any further. As it is, the West Indies will now most likely have to compete with a bunch of associate nations in a bid to steal a final birth for qualifying for the ICC 2019 World Cup. A lot of water has already gone down the bridge despite there being shining stars on the horizon, in the form of Roston Chase and Shai Hope. While it helps that together with Kraigg Brathwaite, the trio comprise a meaty looking batting order, it doesn’t help that together as unit the West Indies aren’t spurred by unity.
The side is, still, for all intents and purposes, reliant on spurts of individual brilliance. Doubt it? Here’s sufficient proof. With Brathwaite and Hope’s brilliance at Headingly in August being a sparkling one off triumph, they have largely relied on a Shai Hope, Evin Lewis, Roston Chase or Jason Holder to soldier on.
Sadly, none of their batsmen have fired in tandem. Even when bowlers attacked or hunted, if it sounds smooth, in pair, it happened in a remarkable moment of rarity: picture the Barabdos hammering handed to Pakistan where Gabriel and Holder both struck decisive blows.
The other problem that the West Indies have had to deal with is their bowlers conceding far too many extras than they should. The stats emanating from 2017 games are quite mind-boggling and in either forms of the game.
Here, sample this.
During their recent tour to England, the West Indies bowlers delivered 39 extras in 4 ODI games. Then against India at home, their bowlers delivered 34 extras from 4 low-scoring encounters. Moreover, their lead bowler, Shannon Gabriel, who’s been looking for some form in New Zealand has made a bit of a tendency to bowl long, exaggerated step outs from the bowling crease.
One wonders amidst all this hue and cry what is captain Jason Holder doing? Why doesn’t the common fan see Holder walk down and offer a word of advice to what are effectively a beehive made of inexperienced bees, one that surely have the talent to sting big. Has Holder fully utilised his batting potential? Surely he savoured his maiden Test hundred against Zimbabwe, only the second of his career. But it is one thing to score against a somewhat clueless Zimbabwe and quite another to step up the game against a top notch side like New Zealand.
At present, with there being no Samuels, Narine, Sammy or Pollard- the West Indies are seemingly sitting on a time bomb. Surely, Evin Lewis needs Gayle to stick around for a while at the top order instead of offer catching practice to the wicketkeeper. He must make the bowlers work harder than offering regulation catches.
Surely, the West Indies have to identify another mainstream batsman to bail them out.
It can’t be Shai Hope on all occasions, who has thus far, played some heroic knocks against Pakistan and England.
What’s happening with Kieran Powell? The much anticipated return of the Caribbean batsman from a short stint with baseball surely hasn’t added a lot of spunk to his craft. Regardless of the opposition, the left-hander just hasn’t been able to convert those brisk, watchful 30s or 40s into big scores. At one point of time, Kraigg Brathwaite might begin to tinker under pressure.
After all, he aptly summarises the role of a consistent scorer and is the only batsman to have been among the runs of lately. Have you looked at his scores against England? If not that impressive 86 against Zimbabwe, he powered an indomitable but lonely 91 versus the Kiwis at Wellington. Brathwaite could surely use a more resourceful partner at the other end. Is bringing Devon Smith back into consideration an answer?
Moreover, Devendra Bishoo, post his desert storm in the UAE last year where the pocket-sized Guyanese dynamo picked an 8-fer hasn’t been among the wickets. What’s ailing Bishoo? Where’s his wickets gone? He was hapless against England in England when it mattered although scampered back in some form courtesy a 9-wicket haul at Bulawayo to bamboozle Zimbabwe.
But no one’s failure with the bat upsets more than Jason Mohammed’s, given he led his side to an unbelievable triumph earlier in the year when he struck a fluent 91 to grind Pakistan into dust. It’s as if someone has altered his psyche, tricking him into literally throwing away his wickets. How often have we seen Dave Mohammed allowing the ball to climb onto his stumps after he nicks one on the inside edge of the bat? 3 times this year. What’s the batting coach been telling him?
With an entire gamut of problems still ailing the West Indies, often jeopardising their chances to contest for a comeback to normality, it doesn’t help that Darren Bravo is nowhere in contention for being picked for future games. It appears that ‘Lil’ Bravo has followed his brother in solely contesting in T20 games instead of representing the national side. Don’t West Indies need him badly? Will we ever see the man they called another Lara in making donning the whites again? His presence might have ensured a victory here or there down at New Zealand.