Over the last twenty odd years of perennial losing, die hard West Indies cricket fans thought that their team had found every conceivable way of losing matches and shattering their hopes. Well, that was, until Monday’s failure to defend – even in these times of instant cricket – a mammoth score of 374, as they succumbed to the Netherlands in the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers.
Once again, the lowly ranked West Indies are suffering the ignominy of being bundled with the likes of ICC Associates Oman, UAE, Scotland, Nepal, and fellow Test dawdlers Sri Lanka, Ireland and Zimbabwe in the qualifying tournament to compete for the final two places in this year’s ICC World Cup to be hosted by India. The West Indies have been flattering to deceive since the tournament commenced a week ago Sunday, despite beating the USA by 39 runs, and Nepal by 101 runs. Against these relatively weak opponents they failed to dismiss the former, whilst the latter kept the West Indies on the field for 49.4 overs, just two deliveries short of the full quota. This shortcoming, pronounced during this depressing era, an inability to figure out opponents and get their wickets continues to hamstring the West Indies.
Last Saturday, the hosts, Zimbabwe, aided by sloppy fielding, defeated the West Indies – the team they have always sought to emulate – by 35 runs. The standard of the West Indies fielding in this tournament, despite the heavy diet of T20 cricket the players have been exposed to, has been poor. Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza, the game’s top scorer with 68 off of 58 balls, survived two chances at one and seven, whilst opener Craig Ervine, after a routine chance to mid-on was put down, scored 22 of his 47 runs. The last pair, cheered on lustily by the home crowd, cultivated 25 vital runs. Zimbabwe’s total of 268 on a decent batting track just proved to be too much of a task for one of the pre-tournament favourites.
Afterwards Coach Darren Sammy, justifiably observed that a team putting down four chances didn’t deserve to win. The Match Referee then added insult to injury by fining the entire West Indies XI sixty percent of their match fees for maintaining a slow over-rate after they were found to be three overs short after time allowances were taken into consideration. This bad day at the office, where two important points to be carried forward to the Super Sixes had been left on the table, was a strong hint that worse was yet to come.
On Monday, the West Indies conjured one of their greatest losses when it mattered most. Despite posting the imposing score of 374, their third highest in ODIs, they lost the game in the Super Over, after the Dutch side had tied the score, to complete the second highest successful run chase in ODI history, just surpassing South Africa’s 372 versus Australia in 2016. Kudos to the Netherlands on this landmark achievement which warrants a place in the Kroller-Mueller Museum – the famous Dutch art museum in Otterlo – among the van Goghs, Monets, Seurats and Picassos.
The decisions taken by the West Indies camp when the game was reduced to a single over will now be analysed forever. Why was the ball handed to Jason Holder, and not Alzarri Joseph, who had conceded only eight runs in his final over? Following Holder’s shellacking for thirty runs, why wasn’t the West Indies century maker, Nicolas Pooran tasked with opening the batting? Coach Sammy on his first outing will have to shoulder the responsibility for these decisions.
Where does this loss leave the West Indies? Despite advancing to the Super Sixes to play three more matches, the West Indies, with no points to carry forward, have virtually no chance beyond a series of improbabilities, of qualifying for the World Cup tournament. As disappointed as the players and all the fans are, in the heat of the moment, how we respond as a whole to this bereavement can have a severe impact on the game’s immediate future in the region.
With nothing to play for the players’ true mettle will be on full display, and their approach in the next three games, especially their fielding, will be under everyone’s microscope. Frustrated West Indies fans have flocked to social media venting their anger while posting all manner of obituaries, and as expected, they have started asking the difficult questions. It is hoped that Cricket West Indies (CWI) will opt for a different course of action when the paint has dried on this fiasco, and spare us the angst of appointing of an inquest committee, the publication of their subsequent report and its ritual burial under the ever growing mountain of unimplemented recommendations. Let’s focus our energies on improving the performances on the field of play.
