ICC Champions Trophy team preview: West Indies

The ICC Champions Trophy, also called the mini World Cup, is just around the corner as the inaugural match sees the two big boys of the game clash on June 6 in Wales – India and South Africa. This article though, is about the team who find themselves in the same group with these two teams – West Indies.

The men from Caribbean are considered to be the dark horses for the championship given their recent form in the limited-over format of the game, and will be looking to upset the big boys in their bid to reclaim the trophy which they won in 2004 at Lord’s, defeating England. West Indies have always done well when they have played a multi-nation tournament in UK, given all their major three successes in the ODI format have come on the shores of UK. The team is led by the experienced all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who took over the captaincy from Darren Sammy, but will face a major test at the very first hurdle as he begins his full time captaincy tenure.

Strengths:

Looking at their squad, one can easily make out they are going all out both in batting and bowling department. While they will rely on the explosiveness of Chris Gayle at the top, they have the experience of Marlon Samuels and Ramnaresh Sarwan to bank on. The middle-order is provided the solidity by the Darren Bravo – whose cover drives reminds one of great Brian Lara. Thus, batting already looks formidable and Caribbean fans will be quietly confident of a very good show.

On to their bowling, it seems Ottis Gibson has got a great mixture of fiery pace and controlled seam bowling as they have picked up 4 very good fast bowlers. When it comes to fiery pace, there are few around the world who are quicker than Tino Best. He crosses the 90 mph mark at will and on his day, can even crank it up to 95 mph. The only downside with that sort of pace is that he loses the direction and can go for plenty of runs. Backing the opening combination of Kemar Roach and Best will be the reliable back-of-length bowler, Ravi Rampaul, who will be entrusted the task of keeping the runs down and chip in with wickets. Then there are these mercurial trio in Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy to bank on if their specialists disappoint the team. All in all, West Indies do look perfect limited-overs team who can surely upset one or two favourites.

Weaknesses:

If one wants to be critical of Ottis Gibson, then we can say even after three and half-years in charge of team, he has failed to produce the world-class pace bowling attack of yesteryears. Even in this tournament if one looks past Best-Roach duo, the fast-bowling cupboard looks threadbare. Even though they have a young Jason Holder in the ranks who looked impressive during his stint in the IPL, but he still looks raw and probably would have to bide his time on the sidelines before he gets his chance in the national team.

The x-factor with West Indies is that Gibson knows the English conditions like the back of his hand, and is betting on part-time bowlers like Sammy, Bravo and Pollard to be their mainstay in the middle overs. Maybe the English weather might come to the rescue of Gibson and company in this tournament. In the long run, though, they have to look for options elsewhere.

Players to watch:

Chris Gayle: It seems Gayle loves this tournament too, along with other domestic T20 leagues he features in around the world. With 695 runs in 14 matches at a staggering average of 57.91 to go with three hundreds, he will go down in the Champions Trophy’s most dangerous batsman. The name Gayle is enough to give nightmares to opposition captains. If he fires and continues his form, he may single-handedly land the trophy into the laps of Windies.

Tino Best: Tino Best is a bowler who is captain’s delight. He always comes out fired up and doesn’t mind a word or two with opposition. He was in good form in the series against Zimbabwe with couple of three wicket hauls. In addition with the ball, he is entertaining with the bat as well as he showed last year against England with a gritty 95 when the famous “mind the windows, Tino” originated by Andrew Flintoff was put to rest once and for all.

Prediction: Probably the most volatile team (Pakistan not withstanding) when it comes to predicting the results, but ever since Gibson has had more authority to implement his philosophy, you can see discipline returning to the team (they always had the flair, after all for no reason they were given the name Calypso in the ’60s). Don’t rule out a semifinal for a team looking hungry to build on their success of T20 World Cup, anything more than that would be a pleasant bonus for Gibson and co!

Squad: Dwayne Bravo (C), Denesh Ramdin (WK and VC), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith

Fixtures:

1) Pakistan v West Indies: 2nd Match- Kennington Oval, London Friday June 7

2) India v West Indies: 6th Match- Kennington Oval, London Tuesday June 11

3) South Africa v West Indies- 9th Match, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff Friday June 14