By Tony (McWatt) and Reds (Perreira)
“Post mortem doan bring back dead,” is an irrefutably valid old Guyanese saying. Following the unmitigated disaster of the West Indies ICC 2021 T20 World Cup campaign, an official Cricket West Indies (CWI) inquiry into its causes is now, however, fully merited.
The roles of the selectors, coaches and captain should now all be officially scrutinized as a means of ensuring that such a disaster is never again repeated
The West Indies entered the 2021 T20 World Cup as defending champions and the tournament’s only ever two-time winners. The West Indies’ “Mission Maroon” campaign, however, ended ignominiously with the unenviable record of just one very squeaky win and four mammoth losses in the five matches played. Indeed, had it not been for Bangladesh’s generosity in gifting the West Indies its only win by a mere three runs, the former champions could very easily have ended the tournament’s Super12 preliminary round winless, point-less, and at the very bottom of the Group A points standings.
To make matters even worse, the West Indies’ dismal 2021 T20 World Cup showing has resulted in its exclusion from the ICC’s eight top-ranked countries that will automatically qualify to participate in the Super12 stage of next year’s 2022 World Cup to be held in Australia.
The former World Champions West Indies will now, embarrassingly, have to participate in a qualification tournament involving international cricket’s minnows to determine the final four teams for the 2022 T20 World Cup’s 16 team roster.
Prior to the World Cup’s commencement, West Indies selection chairman Roger Harper had expressed his belief that his panel’s chosen 15 member squad was good enough to successfully defend its title as reigning World Cup champions. The actual results have now, however, clearly demonstrated the absolute lunacy of Harper’s thinking. As such, Harper and his panel should be made to answer for some of its highly controversial choices.
In the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis we had conducted on the West Indies’ before the campaign’s commencement, we had identified the chosen squad’s dependency on the reputations and experience of its senior players as its greatest potential weakness. A warning that was justified by the actual performances from Chris Gayle (45/5) Lendl Simmons (19/2), Kieron Pollard (90/5), Andre Russell (25/5), Dwayne Bravo (2/8.56) and Ravi Rampaul (2/7.53)that were way below expectations and the respective bracketed runs/innings batting and wickets/economy rates bowling figures for whom make for the most dismal reading.
Our SWOT analysis had also identified the respective opposition’s capacity to analyze and exploit the West Indies’ batting as one of the biggest threats to the team’s likely success. As reflected by both the West Indies’ relatively low recorded team totals, as well as the very dismal individual aggregates of its top batters, that threat was very much a reality.
T20 cricket has evolved to the extent that other teams have caught up with and moved on from the West Indies’ reliance on power hitting batting. The West Indies’ dot ball percentages, during its World Cup matches, were that much higher than those of most other teams. An irrefutable indication that the power-hitting dependency of their batting is still as great as it was five years ago.
Only three of the West Indies batsmen, Shimron Hetmeyer (127), Evan Lewis (105) and Nicholas Pooran had final five innings tournament aggregates of over 100 runs. Yet the West Indies batting lineup remained unchanged for four of its five matches played. Andre Fletcher, who was included in the squad as a backup wicketkeeper and second opener, was never tried despite Chris Gayle’s recorded scores of 13, 12, 4, 1, and 15.
The West Indies coaching staff and captain must also be made to answer for some of the other bizarre selection and tactical decisions that were made during the actual World Cup. A further example of which was the absolute non-selection of the West Indies lone out and out pacer Oshane Thomas for any of the matches. This despite Harper’s claim that Thomas’s inclusion in the squad had been made on the basis of his ability to provide Xfactor raw pace. Former West Indies T20 Captain Darren Sammy’s observation, while on TV commentary, that the West Indies bowling was too defensive-oriented and lacking in attacking options also made Thomas’ continued omission all the more questionable.
Sammy’s comment also brought into question the West Indies’ actual use of the squad’s leg-spinner Haydn Walsh Jr. Chosen for his wicket-taking abilities, Walsh Jr., only played in two of the West Indies five matches, a stark contrast to the routine must pick inclusion of their top leg spinner by all the other participating teams. Walsh’s World Cup returns were 0/44 from five overs bowled at an economy rate of 8.88.
The West Indies’ final tournament tally of wickets taken, 14 from five matches played was among the lowest by all teams. Admittedly undermined by the absence through injury of both Obed McCoy and Fabian Allen, the West Indies bowling’s actual wicket-taking results were a direct reflection of an over-reliance on its three aged warriors, Dwayne Bravo, Ravi Rampaul and Andre Russell. All three of whom were obviously well past their prime and incapable of performing at their very best in the challenging hot and humid conditions under which the tournaments’ matches were played. Not surprisingly, the West Indies’ highest wicket-taker was the squad’s youngest bowler, Akeal Hosein.
Faulty selections and outdated batting strategies having irrefutably contributed to the West Indies T20 World Cup disaster, an official inquest on the campaign’s outcome is indeed now fully warranted. As previously suggested while the post mortem will for sure not resurrect the dead it might, however, ensure that the errors made are not repeated in the future.
“Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it!”
In terms of the immediate future, the West Indies’ next T20 International assignment will be a five match tour this December. We would expect that whatever the selection panel’s composition turns out to be, its chosen squad of 15 players will be a reflection of “out with the old and in with the new!’ No more Gayle, Simmons, Pollard, Russell, and Bravo thank you very much. Instead, Evan Lewis, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Fabian Allen, Haydn Walsh Jr., Akeal Hosein, Obed McCoy, Dominic Drakes, Joshua DaSilva, Odean Smith, Kyle Mayers, Jeavor Royal, Shai Hope, Gudakesh Motie, Shamarh Brooks, and Alzharri Joseph should be foremost among the players under prime consideration for the squad to be captained by Nicholas Pooran with Shimron Hetmeyer as the Vice-Captain.
About The Writers:
Guyana-born, Toronto-based, Tony McWatt is the Publisher of both the WI Wickets and Wickets monthly online cricket magazines that are respectively targeted towards Caribbean and Canadian readers. He is also the only son of the former Guyana and West Indies wicket-keeper batsman the late Clifford “Baby Boy” McWatt.
Guyana-born Reds (Perreira) has served as a world-recognized West Indies Cricket Commentator for well over 50 years. Reds made his broadcasting debut during the 1971 West Indies-India Test Series, and has commentated on hundreds of matches since then.
