Last Saturday afternoon, on the second day of the Second Test versus India at Sabina Park, Jamaica, a television camera presented the perfect synopsis of the current state of Test cricket in the West Indies.
The West Indies, as by rote, were in a quandary in the 13th over at 22 for five, with India’s fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah on a rampage, having claimed all the wickets. The promising young lefthander, Shimron Hetmyer and Captain Jason Holder then set about repairing the wreckage, as the visitors’ first innings total of 416 loomed ominously on the scoreboard.
Hetmyer lived a charmed life, dropped once, playing and missing often, along with several edges, including three in one over that flew over or through the slips down to the boundary. During their numerous midwicket chats it was pretty obvious that the captain was cautioning Hetmyer to concentrate more on the difficult task at hand and to focus on playing closer to his body.
In the 23rd over, with the score on 63 for 5 and only ten overs remaining in the day, somewhat of a rearguard action was in progress. Hetmyer, once again, chased and missed yet another ball wide of the off stump, far away from his body, prompting the normally conservative Ian Bishop in the commentary booth to lament, “Come on, come on, there must be gray matter under the helmet.”
Holder and Hetmyer chatted in midpitch after the following over which Holder had played out for a maiden. After leaving the first two wide balls alone, Hetmyer flung his bat at the next delivery, and managed to square drive it for four. His patience wearing thin, Hetmyer drove again at the final delivery, missed and was comprehensively bowled, middle stump.
As Hetmyer meandered back to the pavilion, having squandered yet another golden opportunity, after batting for 85 minutes, the television cameras captured an iconic moment in the series. An abject Captain Holder had turned his back on Hetmyer, he could no longer bring himself to look. One immediately felt Holder’s despondency at the seeming hopelessness of the state of West Indian cricket.
Here we go yet again he must have been pondering. All the cautioning, all the pre-match planning, and all the efforts of the fast bowlers had once again amounted to nothing, as the top order, not lacking for talent, had once again frittered away their wickets. The score, 67 for 6, was totally depressing.
It was the final straw. No doubt, at that point in time, a lot of television sets throughout the Caribbean were either turned off or the channel was switched to an update on Hurricane Dorian.
The West Indies would go on to lose the match inside four days, just as in the First Test, and now find themselves without any points after their first series in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship, despite having home field advantage. Their first series loss at home in two years comes as a tremendous disappointment, albeit India is a very strong team at present, following their defeat of the England team earlier in the year
The public microscope will now focus on the coach Floyd Reifer and his staff who replaced Richard Pybus, the successful coach versus England, just weeks before the disappointing World Cup campaign. How will they get this team back on track? There is no instant solution or online remedy readily available for this conundrum. The loss of form (Darren Bravo), repeatedly poor shot selection (Hetmyer was dismissed four times in as many innings playing away from his body), and the inability to occupy the crease for long periods and accumulate large scores (entire top order) are problems which require a lot of net sessions and match practice.
Speaking after the match, Holder noted that structural changes were required to fix the massive gap between the levels of regional cricket and the international game whilst adding that enough talking had been done, and the time has come for Cricket West Indies to collectively find solutions to the situation.
After this loss to India, the West Indian cricket fan must be very tired of watching batsmen ‘go fishing’ outside the off stump and presenting catches to eagerly awaiting slip fieldsmen. Come November 26, the start of a one-off Test versus Afghanistan, do not be surprised if you find a sign perched on his silent television set, ‘Gone Fishing’.
