Why lament the Windies when the sun is still shining on them?

Chris Gayle

Mankind continues to dwell in the past. While as humans ever so conscious of the vitality that ‘today’ holds, we keep on sermonizing about how we should forget events of the past and focus on the present moment. But, in reality, we hardly practice what we preach. As lovers of one of the most appetizing modern day sports, we literally do eat, sleep, walk, communicate about and linger over cricket. More so, if you are in India.

We seem to possess this outright will to decorate cricketers from the world over with garlands of huge respect when we take a liking to them. And yet, any moment where someone’s performance is little off colour and not perhaps up to the desires of our cricket greedy palette, within seconds we run the personality down.

We admire Australians for their valour although we hate their ill mannerisms that are not an uncommon sight if you are glued to a contest starring the Kangaroos. We always think of Sri Lanka as this promising opposition that can dethrone any side in world cricket on their given day. Although we love to tag South Africans as the ‘chokers’ of the game, deep within our senses we know they are perhaps the hardest team to beat universally. In India, we regard Kiwis as the real underdogs but sadly reserve our worst humiliation for the men from the Caribbean. The West Indians, are together put to the sword each time a cricket fan decides to quote his ‘expert opinion’ on the game.

West Indies deserve more admiration

Sadly, this phenomenon is not much different when it comes to the admirers of the game from other parts of the world. Forever regarded as the most legendary ‘have been’s ‘of the game, the reputation of West Indies in cricket has for over much of the last two decades dwindled from being a great super force of vibrant talent to being an underperforming bunch of cricketers who love the game and finally, in its shabbiest form, described as lads who seem to have lost touch in a game that peaked with their past glories. One notices, that such persistent criticism, even though it might be delivered in a somewhat haste seems to actually serve no purpose. What on earth is the cricket lover ever going to attain by lamenting this one side and its players all the time?

So what if Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s batting stance is an oddity to graceful and breathtaking strokes that we are familiarised to associate with a Ponting, Kallis or Dravid? His record is just as phenomenal as theirs. Just how much damage has Christopher Henry Gayle done to shaming world cricket if his footwork is slightly off colour in most of the innings that the Jamaican plays? So what if there has never been a consistent opening pair from the West Indies for close to a decade now? And, what on earth is lacking if none of the pacers from the present line of the West Indies bowling attack have an overall aggregate of over 300 wickets in either form of the game? Why do we treat West Indians with such disdain and throw dirt at their performances if not reducing them to a state of perpetual butchery?

In reality, things in the Caribbean are brighter than before! While the tone of an average cricket lover describing the once mighty West Indies may be harsh and severe to the extent of looking down on the team with its collective talent, let us not forget that things aren’t exactly murky and dark as painted by popular perception. Why is everyone so willing to suffocate Darren Bravo under the heavy-duty comparison with batting legend Brian Lara? Why is just a slight dip in form of elder brother Dwayne seen forever as a sign that he is past his best?

Serving criticism is never a problem unless it lacks a fundamental base for reasoning. Some of us may have failed at certain subjects in school once but if a tag of permanent failure is attached to us despite our promising talent in the offing, then wouldn’t that be too harsh? Similar scenario seems to be happening to the West Indies! For a team that had lifted the Champions Trophy way back in 2004 and couldn’t manage to replicate similar glories from thereon, still not everything has fallen apart for West Indies. There is still hope and vast gamut of talent emanating from the forever peppy and upbeat Island nation.

The World T20 in 2012

To the utter surprise of everyone watching the World T20 tournament in Sri Lanka, in 2012 - it was the West Indies that eventually lifted the trophy. Coming into a tournament with a reputation that always favoured their hard hitting batsmen, Ravi Rampaul and Sunil Narine’s surprising success took the world by storm. Though people never really regarded their bowling triumphs as being that pertinent clog that begun to turn the wheel of fortune toward the Windies’ favour, the duo went about doing their job silently.

Sammy suddenly out of nowhere emerged as a ferocious power hitter who wouldn’t waste a second to place a cricket ball into the stands or even outside the ground once you had bowled poorly to him. He was as casual fas competitive and his rise to some newfound glories as the West Indian captain, has spirited quite a few triumphs from thereon. Never angry and rarely operating with a fussy expression, he chears his lads when their shoulders droop and since his inception as the captain, has lead remarkably from the front.

A bowler as talented as Kemar Roach cannot be ignored for long. Presently, he is bowling as fine as he ever did and with Denesh Ramdin taking over the charge of test leadership, not only is Sammy given the necessary rest but a new dawn of peaceful leadership seems to be on the horizon with the advent of Ramdin and his gritty batting. For a team whose batsmen hardly ever interacted during the end of an over or at the commencement of one, this young side now rallies around each other for support and motivation.

In the days of Hooper, Atherton and the Prince of Trinidad what prevailed was never any on the pitch communication, but shear admiration from the other end. Something was lacking. It was the words of advice and caution, which one sees more prominently in the existing side.

Gayle continues to knock batting records off the shelf. A recent demonstration of his heroics was during his explosive display of power - hitting versus the touring Kiwis in June wherein, he became only the second West Indian batsman to score the second fastest fifty in Test cricket. The one surprising name even ahead of him is that of off spinner Shane Shillingford. Gayle’s calm complements the powerhitting, often dethroning calculative planning done at the opposition’s end and it is this facet that has cultivated his genius and made him a modern day great. His other partner in destruction, Keiron Pollard, a batsman whom one would regard as only a T20 specialist, is perhaps the only cricketer out there who can fashion the longest six in the fashion of a golf swing. You may be an express pacer or a sharp turner or even gifted with the one that turns the other way round but chances are, at the slightest delivery of a short ball, the ball will spring back over your head resulting from a muscular pull or drive. The factor of destruction being Polly. He may smile at you at times or display nasty agression, but more often than not, he ensures that the fielders keep busy at mostly collecting the ball from behind the boundary. The dynamic duo were big reasons for Windies’ 2012 T20 triumph. While Gayle launched his firepower all throughout, Pollard delivered the goods versus the crucial game against the Aussies.

A new age of Test cricket for the West Indies

Today, the West Indian fan is happy to note that he is supporting a team that is not willing to surrender without a fight or collapse inside the stipulated five days of test cricket, as had long been the shameless tradition. At the end, it is the fan who backs you when the spirit is jaded. But, with more victories coming at the home turf, sometimes triumphs against Zimbabwe, New Zealand and even Australia and the lifting of that sparkling World T20 trophy, the smiles are back and so are the cheerful and optimistic placards at the stands.

Sometimes, there still are those familiar batting collapses, but one knows that these blokes are forever willing to dig in and stamp on the game their signature calypso trademark of flashy strokeplay. It seems that someone in the West Indian camp has awoken the talented players from their slumber, telling them the harsh consequences of their countrymen if they were to have continued to foray the spiral fall downhill. The consequences here being, the complete loss of hope and faith that people of the Caribbean have long vested in their heroes. This is however a different time for the West Indies. The Cricket administration has Curtly Ambrose and Stuart Williams as the spirited drivers of the game in the Caribbean and together with good performances on the pitch and some unpredictabel triumphs, the weather isn’t at all grim and dark as it once was.

The astute observer of the game would agree with me when I say that there hasn’t been a better performer in the shortest form of the game than the West Indies. Sammy and Ramdin have together started organizing mini discussions post every dismissal ensuring that their talented exponents are motivated and kept pumped for a good show. While Rampaul, Taylor, Gabriel try their guts out to deliver chin music to the batsmen, Ramdin doesn’t keep quiet from behind the stumps. His is a voice backing his fellow talent in the team.

The West Indian team celebrating after winning the World T20 in 2012

He himself hit an adroit ton against England during his stint as the team’s vice-captain during 2012. That was a time when he signalled to the great Viv Richards that he wasn’t done just yet and there was more to come. He followed his efficient and agile glove work in the series versus Bangladesh by hitting a patient but gritty test ton. Dwayne Bravo doesn’t know what giving up means.His slower one is still amongst the best in the world and he continues to enjoy the reputation of a dependable all rounder, underlining the respect that he so handsomely cultivated by relentless effort and continuous good performances from both bat and ball. The harder the opposition, the bigger the stage, the more he keeps coming back. His assault on spin ace Saeed Ajmal earlier in this edition’s World T20, couldn’t have come at a better time. Windies had lost quick wickets. Gayle was sent packing early and Samuels was clearly off colour. In came Bravo sending Pakistanis to all parks of the ground, being harshest to Ajmal in particular. He is a gritty and crafty custodian from Trinidad, also home to the greatest batting legend of the entire Caribbean history.

Darren Bravo and the genes of Brian Lara

The word Lara brings back fond memories. Let us not ignore the younger Bravo. He is a splitting image of his cousin and inspiration Lara, but his aspirations do not stop at being his carbon copy. He possesses the same hunger and will to succeed at the highest level that cultivated Lara’s legend as one of the all time greats.

Last year in New Zealand, it was indeed a Bravo effort that held Windies to a thrilling draw. He attacked when it mattered but most importantly, put a huge prize on his wicket, managing to literally tire out the opposition during his maiden double ton, which came on completely unfamiliar conditions, outside of the West Indies’ comfort zone, in New Zealand. Bravo’s celebrations too are very Lara-like. Both jumped off the air in a wake of happy redemption upon completion of a record or a new milestone and in Darren, one sees hope, willingness, honesty and courage to bat on and on.

Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine – the spin twins

If that was not all to perhaps re-change your prejudices and biases about the West Indies, then think again. While Narine is forever a growing mystery, making more bunnies out of batsmen that they would ever like, he has a certain Samuel Badree has his companion toward destruction of the opposition. Badree’s leg-spinners are freshly squeezed out of the matter of the mind. He bowls with a purpose is not often seen running scared on having over-pitched. He has the turn and the fire to bowl tight spells and his T20 record speaks volumes of his success.

Recently, versus New Zealand, he bowled efficiently in the T20 double headers and took prized scalps to give Windies a great headstart. This however, doesn’t rule out his huge triumph in this year’s World T20. Perhaps, few teams in the world are writing to Sherlock Holmes or putting Scotland Yard behind Narine to unravel his continuous mysteries. He seems to suck the oxygen out of his opposition’s blood and he is forever growing in confidence. After pace attacks spearheading the bowling of West Indies, Narine is perhaps the real ‘doosra’.

In Kraigg Brathwaite, the West Indians seemed to have found a silent but highly motivated force. He is patient as a tree standing immovable from its position until a storm pushes it out and is fired up to prove a name for himself in Test cricket. He handed out a handsome 128 run knock to the recently touring Kiwis who had much to think about how to get rid of this 20-year-old fine batter. After a dismal run in form, Kirk Edwards is willing to score runs more than ever. Sometimes with lofty strokes over the off side, in a fashion that clearly irritated the likes of Wagner, Southee and Bolt, time and again, he decided to deal only in sixes in the recently concluded Test series. With two back to back half centuries, he would be willing to carry on from where he left versus the Kiwis.

Roach is as dedicated as ever and seems to swing it at the same variation as the English dude Anderson. What’s more? He has a reformed Jerome Taylor for company. These men, along with Sulieman Benn literally frustrated the New Zealand side. It all looks good for the Windies. The greatest silver lining is that , Shiv Chanderpaul has kept up his hunger to amass runs. In a format that seems to perfectly marry his refined craft of batsmanship, he is still easily polishing fifties and knocks bordering on hundreds in test matches. What’s more, Lara’s tally of test runs is just within his sights. In a matter of few matches, the world shall be hopefully applauding Shiv and his herculean talent. Guyana after all has its omnipotent presence in West Indian cricket. Ramnaresh Sarwan is still around and has no plans of retiring yet. He is being used under a subtle rotation policy in ODI cricket for the West Indies.

Marlon Samuels needs to get back on track

The only spot of bother so far being the somewhat jaded form of Marlon Samuels. Let us not forget that he was declared as the most improved cricketer for the year 2012 by commentators from all geographies and if we were to tick the proof, let us ask Lasith Malinga on how we was treated during the T20 finals in Sri Lanka a couple of years back. Chances are, you would find him with a dumbstruck expression.

Tall and lanky, and gifted with a chiselled physique, you never know when this inexpressive Jamaican decides to shift gears and from being in a state of reticence on the pitch transforms himself to one of the hardest hitters ever. All said and done, it is a real treat to watch the men from the West Indies when they decide to get going. They have assaulted Australians over the past two years with complete dominance. Ask Xavier Doherty or James Faulkner. The latter’s carefree expression of a slight distaste of them resulted in team Australia being trounced out from the recently concluded World T20.

Even Dhoni’s men don’t take West Indians lightly anymore. But the haters still remain and so shall they. After all, cricket is a game played by real geniuses and made interesting by cynical observations and engaging by methodical mind games. The audience is as much part of the excitement as the real action on the 22 yards. But whatever it is, I am sure, West Indies are a side that won’t like to pay too much attention on what’s being said about them, as long as you don’t take a jibe at their Gangnam style outbursts, Gayle, Bravo and Sammy being its leading lights. For as long as the West Indians continue to dance, world cricket will surely reach new heights.