West Indies Cricket: Too many questions, too little time

Not only the West Indies cricket fans but the entire cricketing world would have their hearts in their mouths when the Windies played the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 qualifier last year in Zimbabwe.

It was a team which showed the world how to dominate world cricket. However, there was almost a situation, when a World Cup could have been staged without the presence of Men in Maroon. Such is the deterioration that the West Indies cricket has witnessed in the last two and a half decades.

They were dearly missed in the 2017 Champions Trophy which saw the best 8 teams in the World locking horns with each other. Windies are not in the top 8 ODI teams. If you win 11 out of your 40 One-Day Internationals and loose 17 ODI bilateral series, you don't deserve a place in the list of the best teams of the world.

ICC's decision to stage a 10-team tournament might be rebuked by these low-ranked teams as they fail to stand anywhere close to the best teams in the world. However, it is meant for something for good as when the best play the best, it makes for a successful event.

West Indies in T20I cricket is still a force to reckon with. However, it's ODI cricket where they have a lot of questions to answer, especially with the World Cup drawing near.

Windies have tried 35 players in their last 40 games and a very few of them have stayed in the side for long enough. Marlon Samuels, one of their most experienced players has shown a great deal of inconsistency, particularly against spin. Evin Lewis, who got off to a blazing start in his international career has tapered off and his weaknesses against swinging ball have been exposed and these weaknesses have been exploited by teams around the world.

While Dwayne Bravo has already retired from international cricket, the likes of Pollard, Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree, Carlos Braithwaite, Andre Russel et al. prefer to play T20 leagues around the world rather than helping their team to escape this crisis situation. They have their reasons for that as well.

Only Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope and Evin Lewis have averaged over 30 in the last two years and the West Indies have scored only 9 centuries in their last 40 games. These numbers are enough to highlight the innumerable questions that the Windies cricket has to answer.

With Badree no more in the side, they have their hopes attached to Devendra Bishoo for playing the role of a wicket-taking leg-spinner which every team wishes for in limited-overs cricket these days.

However, he has managed to pick up just 14 wickets in his last 25 games as far as middle overs are concerned. Therefore, Windies are not penetrative enough in the middle phase of the innings and consequently, their bowlers get real bashing at the death.

While Alzarri Joseph and Kemar Roach have done exceedingly well in the Test arena, they need to replicate these performances in One-Day cricket. However, only Obed McCoy and Sheldon Cottrel have an average of less than 30 with the ball in the last two years. In fact, with skipper Jason Holder being the only bowler to average more than a wicket per game, their new ball attack is not really potent.

They have looked at the genuine pace of Oshane Thomas, who has impressed whenever he has played. However, his pace drops significantly after having bowled 4 or 5 overs. Even Shannon Gabriel, who has been suspended for the next 4 ODI games, can be looked at but he has not played an ODI since 2017.

Windies can get some "hope" from Hope's recent performances in ODI cricket. The likes of Hetmyer and Pooran are exciting prospects but are fairly inexperienced at the moment. They need the guidance of Darren Bravo and Chris Gayle, who will call a quit on his ODI career after the World Cup. If these two can take responsibility and allow young players to play their natural game, things can get better for their batting group.

The Windies are far from settled at the moment. However, they still have some match-winners in their armoury. They can demolish any team on their day. They can take some confidence from their recent Test series victories at home. They won a series against England and Bangladesh and drew one against Sri Lanka.

Their next ODI challenge will be England and effectively their last chance to answer some of these questions. England will be a very tough team to beat but their skipper Jason Holder needs to lead from the front as he does in Test cricket.