The recent scrutiny surrounding the lethargic showing of the West Indies women’s team is understandable but the responsibility does not fall squarely on the shoulders of Stafanie Taylor and her troops. The board has to take some of the blame for its nonchalant approach towards women’s cricket in the region. Nevertheless, something has to give.
But just how bad have they been? Or has the recent 0-5 series T20 loss against England caused exaggerated calls to overhaul women’s cricket in the region? It is a mixture of both.
For context, the ladies in Maroon are currently ranked sixth in the world only ahead of fellow ICC full members Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in T20s.
West Indies, since its ICC T20 World Cup triumph over Australia in 2016, has yielded mixed returns in that format. In 10 contested bilateral series since their Kolkata heroics, the West Indies women’ team has won four of those series and shared honours once. The other series losses, which included the last four, were whitewashes against England twice, Australia and India.
In One Day Internationals (ODIs), they are also ranked sixth and their numbers over the last four years are also daunting. West Indies during that period have only won two bilateral series, both coming in 2019 against their lesser foes in Afghanistan and Ireland.
Those numbers suggest that all isn’t well with female cricket in the region. The board has recently installed West Indies legend, Courtney Walsh, as head coach of the team and according to a Cricket West Indies statement, Walsh will be at the helm of the team up until 2022.
Walsh, during a recent virtual press conference, said his foremost task would be to make an assessment of the region’s talent pool via a series of training camps.
The West India legend takes over the side at a critical juncture; he will need to work along with Taylor to develop a winning formula. Addressing the technical and mental deficiencies of some of the senior players like Hayley Matthews is also of importance. The 22-year-old who scored a majestic T20 century against Ireland in 2019, has failed to get out of the 20s during her 14 preceding knocks.
Meanwhile, cultivating a nurturing environment for the up-and-coming talents and lobbying to improve the domestic structure to mirror a more professional one are two other key considerations for the Jamaican if he is to reverse West Indies’ recent fortunes.
(Sports Editor’s Note: Royston Alkins is a former national U19 cricketer).
