We may not have expected the West Indies to lift the 2011 Cricket World Cup but the manner of their loss to Pakistan will long linger as a painful embarrassment
Having tiptoed shamefacedly into the quarter finals of the 2011 Cricket World Cup the West Indies team wasted no time in conceding that they really did not belong in the auspicious company of the other seven combatants who had earned their places through consistently solid performances or else, like England, had clawed their way back from adversity to arrive in the hall of qualifiers safe if more than a trifle breathless.
By contrast, the performances of the Caribbean side had amounted to no more than what we had feared, their arguably undeserved place in the final eight being due only to the permutations of the grouping system which offered the presumably stronger teams two decidedly weaker opponents and an opportunity to have the subsequent rounds played out on a more level playing field. That, plus their