A fog of pessimism has been hovering over the Caribbean since early Saturday. Depressed West Indies cricket fans, heads hanging in despair, pull the brims of their maroon sunhats a tad lower than the norm, and tug their pandemic masks higher on their nose bridges, lest anyone makes cognizance of them. Feelings of shame and disgust tightly entwined in their spirits, have dragged the diehards down to previously inexperienced lows. Once again, their beloved West Indies cricketers have ripped their hearts asunder with yet another gutless performance.
In their opening encounter of this year’s T20 World Cup against an English side that they put to the sword in the 2016 final, the two-time defending T20 World Champions gave their most inept performance of this century. The West Indies succumbed (one is tempted to say surrendered) to their oldest foe for 55 measly runs in 14.2 overs. Yes, the numbers are real and worth repeating; 55 runs in 14.2 overs. The score line of 31 for four after the first power play became a depressing 44 for six after ten overs, at which point in time even the most diehard West Indies fan switched off the television set, and sauntered outside to get away from the pre-Halloween nightmare taking place in the Dubai night. Those fans fortunate enough to be in the Caribbean, most likely ventured to the nearest beach to drown their rising sorrows.
Reviewing the tale of the numbers only reveals how low the West Indies have sunk. Their total of 55 runs is the third lowest in the history of the tournament, just ahead of totals of 39 and 44 recorded by the Netherlands in 2014 and last Friday, respectively. This is their third consecutive sub-100 T20I score against England, following totals of 45 and 71, in the second and third matches of the 2019 series in St Kitts. In suffering their first defeat in six T20 World Cup matches against England, the West Indies, recorded 59 dot balls in the 86 deliveries they faced, and lost for the first time in this format with more than ten overs to spare.
International fans have had a field day on Twitter making fun of the West Indian team.
A wide range of words have been corralled to describe this decrepit display; debacle, humiliation, thrashing, hiding, embarrassment, skittled, bundled out, waste, woeful, the list continues. One posting summed it up appropriately, “Difficult to recall a more inept or brainless batting performance than this.”
The warning signs of this potential ‘Three Mile Island’ meltdown coming had been posted everywhere. There was discord in the West Indies when the team was announced and it was disclosed that some players, whose inclusion wrinkled many an eyebrow, had been accorded unexplained special fitness waiver privileges. Prior to Saturday, the team’s lethargic batting form was fully on display in the heavy losses incurred in the two warm-up matches with Pakistan and Afghanistan. The writing has been on the wall all along.
The team’s response to their sloppy performance has been the usual rhetoric one hears on these occasions. Skipper Kieron Pollard declared that the team’s performance was unacceptable, and they had to take full responsibility, but they had “to bin it as quickly as possible and move on.” Bin it? Their worst ever performance in the World Cup? And the Captain just wants to ‘bin it’? Pollard then added the crème de la crème, by hinting that there would not be wholesale changes – read that to mean that the same inept XI will be trotted out for the next match.
Coach Phil Simmons appeared to be just as casual in his interactions with the media. He observed that his side’s confidence was not shattered, and that personal pride would motivate his players. He also claimed that the batsmen had to improve their shot selection, and situation assessment. These are international players, not weekend cricketers playing in a fete match in a park, they should be, we hope, already wired along those lines. Coach Simmons should recognise that this is a, “Houston, we’ve got a problem” moment. The Riot Act needs to be read, and in fact, should have been read the moment the team walked off the field on Saturday. Everything is on the line here.
The West Indies’ all or nothing aggressive batting approach is no longer applicable at this format. Marlon Samuels’ advice to Carlos Brathwaite at the commencement of the final over of the 2016 T20 World Cup Final, “Swing for the hills” is old hat. The adaptation of revolving strategy and the use of technology driven analysis by the top teams have changed the way the game is played at this level, and we are clearly bringing up the rear here. Pakistan’s victory over India on the weekend, their first in 13 World Cup – ODI and T20I –encounters, is a case in point. The strategic bowling changes implemented to stifle India’s powerful batting line-up was the sound execution of a well-prepared game plan.
With the West Indies’ susceptibility to top-class spin bowling exposed by both the England leg-spinner Adil Rashid (four wickets for two runs in 2.2 overs) and Afghanistan’s off-spinner Mohammad Nabi (four overs, two maidens, two runs, three wickets), one can expect this Achilles Heel to be fully exploited by South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Australia, the other members of the Group of Death. Even more worrisome is the bowling attack’s apparent inability to get wickets or contain batsmen once they get settled.
This T20 World Cup appears to spell Titanic consequences for the immediate future of West Indies cricket. The dire probability of losing all five matches – they fell easily to South Africa yesterday – seems to be on the cards here. How will Cricket West Indies respond to this disaster? A shrug of the shoulders most likely.
