One week from today West Indians will begin paying keen attention to the activities of a group of their fellow countrymen during their campaign against Afghanistan in India. No, the visitors won’t be trying to conquer Mount Noshaq, the tallest mountain in Afghanistan, although, to all and sundry back home, they will be attempting to commence an ascent of a similar nature at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun; the ICC rankings.
Once again, the West Indies are back at the drawing board stage. Phil Simmons, who was controversially sacked three years ago, has been reappointed as coach, edging out the other two finalists for the position, Desmond Haynes, the former West Indies opening batsman, and Floyd Reifer, who had served as the interim coach at the 2019 ICC World Cup. A new selection panel, under the chairmanship of Roger Harper, has been given the unenviable task of assembling the teams for the three formats of the modern era.
The current state of affairs leaves a lot to be desired. Following a disastrous World Cup campaign, where the team finished ninth, ahead of only Afghanistan, the West Indies are currently in ninth place in the ICC ODI rankings. It is the same old story in the Test arena and the T20 format, where the team presently resides in the eighth and tenth positions, respectively. In the latter instance, the West Indies are looking into the rear view mirrors of Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Hopes that a revival of sorts had been ignited, following the home Test series victory over England at the start of the year, were brought to a screeching halt in August by Virat Kohli’s squad of world beaters. India, top of the ICC Test rankings, swept aside the hapless West Indians in all three versions of the game, winning the two Tests by an average of 287 runs.
As the West Indies set off for the series against Afghanistan, they are without their best batsman, Darren Bravo, who has been dropped from the Test squad following a loss of form. This is an unfortunate occurrence since Bravo, as he showed during the England series, is the one player capable applying himself to the task at hand, regardless of the prevailing circumstances.
The new panel has made the correct decision (which, surprisingly, has been not well received in some quarters) to omit Chris Gayle, who is now way past his best. Fellow veteran, Andre Russell has also suffered a similar fate, as the time is more than ripe for the torch to be passed to the younger brigade.
Simmons, who has a reputation of being a tough taskmaster and a disciplinarian, has received a four-year appointment, a reasonable period of time to develop a strong squad of players and to create the right culture. There will be no instant overnight success here. Simmons knows all too well how difficult a hand he has been dealt. The expectation of losing is deep rooted in the psyche of the players and that mental pillar has to be removed if the team is to start climbing the ladder of the ICC rankings.
The core of young talent exists. Every cricketing nation would like to possess the talent pool of the likes of Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicolas Pooran and Brandon King. The aforementioned and the upcoming players need to grasp the reality that the road ahead is long and they have to continuously apply themselves to being the best that they can possibly be, and not rest on their laurels whenever they enjoy some form of success.
As the West Indies sets off for three T20Is, three ODIs and one Test, they should remember that the conquest begins with a single step.
