Under the SKanner: Shai Hope

Over the past decade or so, the West Indies Test team has often struggled due to the absence of their best stars for one reason or the other and naturally, not many top class talents had emerged for some time. However, that has all changed in the recent years and one of the most promising players to have emerged for the team is their middle-order batsman Shai Hope. His technical excellence, temperament, defensive technique and stroke-play make him the ideal middle-order batsman for any Test side.

His performance against Pakistan and England last season saw him catapulted into the big time and become one of the world’s most promising batsmen. It was no surprise then that the 24-year-old was selected as one of the 5 Wisden Cricketer of the Year. He is a hugely talented player and perhaps it is time to put him under the SKanner.

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#5 Technical proficiency

When a young batsman finds himself in the cauldron of international cricket, it is his technical excellence that helps him feel that he belongs at the top level and in case of Shai Hope, that has been the case ever since he made his debut back in 2015. He has the technical wherewithal to play any kind of bowling and what makes it so difficult to bowl to him when he is fine form is his ability to play strokes off the front foot as well as off the back foot.

The variation of lengths that bowlers often use can often look completely ineffective and it is this particular strength that has turned him into one of the most promising young batsmen in the world. On the other hand, his robust defensive technique is also one of the biggest factors behind his rise as a batsman and in the years to come, his supremely all-round technique will give him the arsenal to emerge as one of the best batsmen in the world.

#4 Temperament

Battling it out against England

When it comes to young players, they might have everything going for them but if they do not have the right temperament then it is quite difficult for them to shine in international cricket. Sometimes, for all their talent, a batsman has to accept that in a particular situation he might need to curb his natural game and that is quite often the quality that separates a talented batsman who actually belongs at the highest level from the one who doesn’t.

Shai Hope is not only a hugely talented batsman but he has the temperament that can take him to the pinnacle of the game and that makes him a player, who often appears mature beyond his years. He showed that at Headingley last year when he guided the famous chase against England. He knows when to go after when to defend and most importantly, how to hold is nerve when the going gets tough.

#3 Scintillating stroke-making

Shai Hope in full flow

Defensive excellence is obviously a big part of the game for all batsmen but those who really make a difference and can often turn the game in his side’s favour are those who can get on top of opposition bowlers with sustained stroke-play. When the conditions are tough and runs aren’t coming, then batsmen need to play strokes to get the scoreboard moving and also to get the bowlers thinking. Just blocking won’t help in those scenarios and throughout cricket’s history, the best batsmen have been those who have been successful in such counterattacking measures. Shai Hope is someone who can deliver such a counterpunch and he has done so plenty of times in his career so far.

The most famous instance of such a counterattack was, of course, his second innings century at Headingley last year. As mentioned earlier, he can play on the front foot and is equally comfortable off the back foot, which allows the West Indian to choose from a wide array of strokes. In the years to come, his scintillating stroke-making prowess will probably see him become one of the world’s top batsmen.

#2 Struggles in ODI cricket

Hope in action in an ODI

Considering the sort of stroke-making he is capable of, people would think that he would turn out to be a success in ODIs as well but so far Shai Hope has struggled in the 50 overs game and that must be something that he would want to get right in the near future. The Barbadian has played in 33 ODI in his relatively short career so far and has made one century. Although his average of 37.77 is pretty decent, it is his strike rate of only 66.53 that suggests that he struggles to really get going in this format of the game.

That sort of strike rate may have been acceptable in a different day and age but in modern day ODI cricket, a team cannot afford to have a batsman scoring slowly. However, it is still early days in his career and perhaps he needs a bit more time before he can truly come into his own in the 50 over version of the game. The talent is there but does he have the discipline to make it big in the shorter formats of the game?

#1 Inconsistency

Hope walks back after a dismissal

Now there is no doubt that Shai Hope possesses all the tools to make it big in international cricket but one thing that simply cannot be ignored is the fact that he does not get big scores as frequently as he would like. He has scored only 2 centuries so far in 18 Test matches and both of them were scored in that famous Test match at Headingley last year.

However, beyond that, he has only scored 3 fifties in 17 Test matches and has recorded an overall average of 33.54. For a player of his calibre, those are poor numbers and clearly indicate that Hope is a batsman who struggles with consistency. Maybe, he would get better with age and learn to drive home the advantage once he is set, but as of now, his consistency is his Achilles Heel.