5 elements that make West Indies a threatening opposition in the World Cup

The era of dominance of the West Indies cricket team is long over. Once a strong team that scaled great heights during the time of former legends like Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, cricket in the Caribbean has been on the path of deterioration for long.It was at the peak of their power’s during the 80s and the early 90s that West Indies were truly regarded as a dominant power in World Cricket. On one hand, while their bowling was penetrating and accurate, their batsmen played in a spirited and carefree manner.The current Windies side is a shadow of the great batting orders of yore, but they do have in their ranks a quartet of hard-hitting batsmen who can upset a few more fancied teams in World Cup 2015. They might be lazy or a tad bit nonchalant as their key opponents identify them to be, but they still possess the flair that had propelled them to the legendary status their country’s cricketers had achieved.After their shocking loss to Ireland in their first World Cup match, the West Indies have demonstrated great fighting spirit. We take a look at what makes the West Indies a strong and competitive side in this edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup:

#1 Red-hot form of Marlon Samuels

Marlon Samuels during his innings of 133 against Zimbabwe

In their recent outing in South Africa, the lads from the Caribbean didn't exactly create lasting memories, either in the Test matches or in the One Day series. Apart from that T20 series win, there wasn't much to take home from the African tour, except for the fine batting form of their top order batsman Marlon Nathaniel Samuels.

The 33-year-old Jamaican showed stubborn resistance to the imposing South Africans. In the T20 series triumph, he rendered useful support to Gayle in taking his side over the ropes on 2 ocassions out of three. In the Test matches, he made headlines after a quickfire 101 off 160 balls at Port Elizabeth.

He struck two valuable fifties in the ODI games, 68 being his top score, even as his side lost the ODI series by a convincing margin of 4-1. Marlon Samuels attacked from the word go and didn't look to back down in front of the piercing pace of the threatening duo Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

Samuels recently compiled his career best ODI score of 133 vs Zimbabwe in an important Pool B game for West Indies, apart from scripting the highest ODI partnership with Chris Gayle. Samuels has had come to the crease at very early stages of the Windies innings in recent times, but this might augur well for the Jamaican.

#2 Chris Gayle rediscovering his mojo

Chris Gayle on way to his innings of 215 against Zimbabwe

Chris Gayle has long been the subject of much criticism owing to his poor run with the bat, and had failed to reach the 100-mark in ODIs for a while now. But a batsman of Gayle’s class and talent cannot be contained for long and Zimbabwe, already considered a minnow side in competitive cricket, had to pay heavily in front of the Gayle onslaught that came out of nowhere.

Not identified typically as a challenging bowling unit, Zimbabwean bowlers were dislodged to all parts of the ground during the lanky left hander’s splendid knock of 215 that featured 16 towering sixes.

Whether the mighty Gayle is truly back on song can be judged better after analyzing his performances against stronger sides like India and South Africa. However, this big knock has certainly brought his side a breath of fresh air and has done a world of good for his own form with the bat. Gayle will have to put in more consistent performances of the bat in order to convince the world that he is the same, smiling assasin as he once was but at the moment, there is nothing to indicate that the 215 will not be bettered by him in this very tournament.

#3 Lendl Simmons\' consistency

Lendl Simmons celebrates a catch against Pakistan

Lendl Simmons was the only positive that West Indies could draw from their hapless defeat at the hands of the Irish in their campaign opener. Joining Darren Sammy to form a crucial partnership at No.6, Lendl Simmons would have seen the scorecard reading 87 for 5 when he first arrived.

Thanks to his fearless and innovating batting, that featured some clever late cuts and big heaves over mid-wicket, the handicapped West Indies scoring was resusciated by Simmons and Sammy who compiled useful 154 runs for a record 6th wicket stand in ODI cricket.

The measure of the talent and ability of the young Trinidadian could be judged by his approach to batting in the game that followed. In the important game against a better balanced side, West Indies were playing for everything. Once again their top order deceived them by being dismissed cheaply and the task of reconstructing the innings lay in the hands of Bravo, Simmons and Ramdin.

Simmons responded postively by scoring a watchful 51 before being run out on the final delivery of the innings. He played a couple of handsome strokes against the leg spin of Shahid Afridi, who he lofted for 2 glorious sixes over the deep mid-wicket region. The young man has shown good promise and much of the responsibility of scoring valuable runs for West Indies will depend on his talent and temperment, both of which are of unquestionable worth, going by the moment.

#4 The revelation that has been Andre Russell

Andre Russell’s hairstyle has also been one of the talking points of the World Cup

Andre Russell’s batting doesn’t quite have the beauty and grace that one associates with batsmen of class and repute but his clean hitting and ability to compile effective runs down the batting order make him an important member of the West Indies’ playing eleven.

In their only ODI triumph that followed a humiliating series loss to the Proteas, it was Andre Russells's powerful knock of 64 off 40 balls that rescued the West Indies to a thrilling 1-wicket victory over their opponents. He can hit powerful flat sixes on any pitch, and has made it a habit to score runs at a strike rate of more than 100.

He played a blinder against Pakistan where his 13-ball-42 powered Windies to a huge first innings total. It was a welcome sight for his team to see Russell hit Wahab Riaz for back-to-back sixes in the last over of their match.

Russell is also an outstanding fielder and his agility enables him to save useful runs for the team. While he isn’t a very skilled bowler, he can bowl the slower bouncers and yorkers consistently. Not identified as a partnership-breaking bowler, Russell has the pace if not the discipline to be a better performer with the bowl.

#5 Lethal bowling attack

Jerome Taylor and Jason Holder during the West Indies vs Pakistan match

Jason Holder, the 6’6’’ young West Indies captain has looked in great form in the World Cup campaign so far. Combined with the pace of the more experienced Jerome Taylor's, scoring runs off the Windies pace attack isn't a very easy task.

While Taylor can push the pace throttle with his penetrating line and length, Jason Holder can extract that extra bounce given his tall frame. There seems to be some fine rhythm to both these Windies fast bowlers and if the last 3 games are to be taken into account, then the duo have shared over 15 wickets between them at a decent economy rate.

Holder, the calm captain, has Sammy and Benn for useful support and with a strike bowler of the class of Jerome Taylor leading the attack and seeming intent on collecting quick wickets, West Indies bowling after a long time looks promising and bright.

However, one bad day for their strike bowlers can see a lot of runs being leaked in the first few overs and the game going out of Windies’ grasp.