Is The Game Over For West Indies Cricket?

The cricket lovers are in shock. They witnessed a doomsday scenario yesterday. The mighty West Indies - struggling to secure a place in the World Cup 2023 - were thrashed not once, but twice by the so-called minnows within a week. First Zimbabwe, then the Netherlands both the teams were able to convincingly beat the two-time world champions. the latter chased down 374 runs to tie the match and eventually won it in the super over.

Team go through a rough patch in any game but for the West Indies, it appears that a complete generation have passed since they lost the glory they had till the 1990s at least.

What has gone so wrong with the Caribbeans?

For starters; there¡¯s been a perpetual lack of financial influx into developing cricket in the Caribbean as how one would ideally like it to happen. The board and management seem unclear. The revered ICC¡¯s commitment to grow nations that once were true powerhouses - such as Windies and the Proteas- appear to have no clear roadmaps or incisive plans.

Moreover, a culture of withdrawing from national representation coupled with misplaced priorities, which is a very West Indian trait nowadays, have drained out positivism and the burst of energy from the national sentiment, something that decades back was quite infectious.

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What one saw in the game conceded to the Dutch despite West Indies putting on a mammoth 374 on the board was a bowling unit that not only lacked bite, but maybe even genuine match winning or game changing approach.

Does a Romario Shepherd or Keemo Paul running into you despite a thirteen or fifteen step run up give you the same chills as a Curtly Ambrose, or if not, then Jerome Taylor or Kemar Roach?

Barring Kraigg Brathwaite, who happens to be a dependable Test cricketer, which West Indies cricketer across white ball formats has the tenacity of a Shiv Chanderpaul?

How was Roston Chase, several adrift from 1,000 one day runs and has, not even touched 700 runs despite 40 games, drafted in the one day side playing the role of an all rounder?

What is Rovman Powell, 59 runs from his last five legitimate white ball games for the West Indies, doing in this team?

How many catches has he grassed in this tournament? Didn¡¯t Powell, a vice captain with a career average of 22 in one day cricket, drop Nidamanuru in the decisive phase of Windies¡¯ most recent game?

Surely, there was much pressure when the catch was pouched but doesn¡¯t pressure create diamonds?

The rut of questions is a must, which is why it¡¯s a constant.

Barring Shai Hope, who¡¯s not been able to replicate his extraordinary successes at the one day level into Tests, which West Indian bats with the same instinct for dominating his opponent as a Brian Charles Lara?

Surely, Hope has demonstrated a touch of class and the willingness to soldier on whether or not others bat long enough around him.

He¡¯s perhaps the light at the end of the tunnel and the optimism all along of finding it; his hundredth one dayer culminated in a century (vs India in 2022), his first knock as West Indies ODI captain was a hundred (vs South Africa), he recently hit a hundred against Nepal (132) in this series and has scored the most one day runs since the 2019 ODI World Cup.

But that¡¯s that.

What the West Indies needs

Where¡¯s that genuinely scary and unpardonably intimidating all rounder?

England have Stokes. Australia now have Cummins. New Zealand have always had Neesham and now, Bracewell. Zimbabwe have a Sikandar of Cricket in Raza.

Who¡¯s West Indies¡¯s marauding man?

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Is Jason Holder, the most experienced West Indies fast bowler, yet one who conceded 30 odd runs in a super over an that too from a tail ender of an Associate Nation, the answer?

I can¡¯t see perturbed faces and raised brows when a Holder gets into the attack.

Does the premier all rounder and wicket taker of a team as urgently pressed as his bowl as many full tosses as what Holder did in yet another loss suffered in the WC qualifiers event?

Do the players that are available to be picked in the Caribbean today, truly and sufficiently competitive enough when one looks at the intent-laced, unflustered and wholesome talent whether from an India or Australia?

Maybe, one needs to see things as how they are.

Barring occasional or standalone performances such as great bowling effort or a lone vigil by a batsman, the team has largely receded to playing a culture of cricket that lacks fight, sadly maybe even intent, breeds on ordinariness and oddly enough, doesn¡¯t really challenge the opponent.

West Indians seem to backfire horribly against stronger teams, whilst the men who wear maroon manage to appear marooned with sadness despite competing against the Associate nations.

Hastily bitten fingernails, cussing fans who engage with diatribe and endless Twitter-driven feuds are but the casualties in such a torrid scenario.

And here¡¯s the other truth.

Other than a random or sudden occurrence in white ball cricket that rings up a surprise, whether in one day or T20 format, the West Indies story, of late, has largely been one to forget.

But why¡¯s that?

Their lack of successes and string of ordinary performances have had both- a prolonged run and a face of massive mediocrity. That¡¯s not to say that there haven¡¯t been any positives in the last twelve or eighteen months.

The West Indies beat England in a T20I series at home in 2022, where Rovman Powell hit a 107 from just 53 deliveries laced with 10 sixes.

It was an unforgettable sight.

Kieron Pollard, former captain, massacred Sri Lanka in a white ball contest a year before in 2021 as he hit six consecutive sixes against spin.

Not an everyday sight in West Indies cricket.

Then, in 2022, the West Indies beat Bangladesh in the T20I leg of the series in the Caribbean and even visited the Netherlands for the first time ever for a bi lateral series, where they won each of the three one day games.

But the weight and consistency of victories especially when compared to the defeats they endured, whether in ODI or T20I cricket, appear to be rather scant and irregular for lack of better expression.

From the onset of 2022 until the game against the Netherlands in the ongoing World Cup qualifiers, held just hours back, the West Indies have played a brand of one day cricket that may have received battering from even a B grade team hailing from an Associate cricket nation, let alone standing a chance to counter any Ranji team from India.

In the last twelve months, the West Indies lost every single white ball game played in India, which included 3 one dayers and as many T20I¡¯s, lost each of the three one dayers played in Pakistan, found a way to see Ireland trump them 2-1 in the one dayers held in the Caribbean.

And when that wasn¡¯t enough, they displayed helplessness and a sense of thoughtlessness against Bangladesh and New Zealand in the white ball one day contests held in the Caribbean last year.

But the woeful West Indian one day story rubbed off on the T20I results as well.

The team that played a brand of cricket that could be dubbed absolutely spark-less as far as the T20 World Cup of 2021 was concerned was no less mediocre to the team that appeared hapless in the coveted event held the next year.

The two-time T20 world cup champions couldn¡¯t even make it to the next round of the 2022 World Cup held in Australia where crashing to a nine wicket defeat to Ireland completely castigated the West Indies.

But truth be told, the West Indies weren¡¯t that bad in 2015 and 2016. In the year of the ODI World Cup, they thrashed Zimbabwe and Pakistan and drubbed UAE. Back then, they still had Gayle, Samuels, Sammy, Narine and Russell.

A year later, they discovered Carlos Brathwaite, a new superstar emerging on the T20 circuit and jived and thrived their way to a big win over England in the World Cup powered by the Barbadian¡¯s four consecutive sixes in a tense final over.

A few seasons later, Brathwaite would captain the Windies in some T20I¡¯s before losing form and that touch only to regain his batting prowess in the men¡¯s ODI World Cup of 2019, where he thudded a nerve wracking century against New Zealand.

Except, a few years on from that mesmerising contest, Brathwaite has dropped the bat for the mic and is hanging out in the commentary box.

How was his career allowed to fade away?

From the onset of 2015 until 2019, while several have lost form, there are some who¡¯ve even lost their place in the national side and not always due to selection strategies.

His sensational hitting would even stun a Chris Gayle.

Evin Lewis, who was clearly on his way to becoming a six hitting machine, has fallen out of flavour with the selectors. A despondent season with the bat in 2022 and a low key T20 world cup didn¡¯t help his cause.

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Darren Bravo, who was fascinating and in a league of his own against New Zealand for that mega double ton in Tests a few years ago and not to forget, for striking the first ever pink ball hundred for Windies under the floodlights against Pakistan in 2016, is largely a spent force today.

He was given countless chances in white ball cricket but barring an impressive ODI ton against Sri Lanka two years back in the Caribbean, the man who was tipped to be the next Lara is nowhere to be found.

Of course, some cases are even stranger; the West Indies found two genuine wicket takers and quicks in Miguel Cummins in Tests and Oshane Thomas in one dayers. The latter even played the 2019 World Cup.

Unfortunately, today both are nowhere close to be picked for national duties.

But Shimron Hetmyer¡¯s case, unarguably speaking, has been such that it seems the destiny of Windies¡¯s future is penned by the absurdist.

Hetmyer, for his clean hitting and timing along with the natural flair for facing spin was peaking before it all went downhill.

For someone who¡¯s never missed a single IPL game for Rajasthan Royals whenever counted in an eleven, Hetmyer failed to board the flight last year to Australia where he was to have joined the team for the 2022 T20 World Cup.

Today, broadly speaking, the West Indies resemble that giant wrestler inside a ring with several wrinkles, loose muscles and awfully slow reflexes that for much younger opponents, essentially speaking, cricketing newbies, poses hardly any challenge.

The once mighty fighter is too easy to defeat.

The USA might have walked over them a little over a week ago, while Zimbabwe, who Windies smashed badly in the 2015 world cup, steamrolled them just hours ago.

As a matter of fact, Afghanistan, who had already beaten the West Indies in a T20 World Cup contest much earlier, can thrash them too easily today than most Associate nations around.

And speaking of Associate nations, the Netherlands, whose international cricketing experience when compared to West Indies¡¯s is that of a hare when compared to the size of an elephant overcame the mammal that was once, in its prime, a giant.

But what hurts and massively though is to see a team with a batting talent as exciting and watchable as Pooran and Hope to be where it is, under the paws of teams significantly less experienced.

The West Indies team with talents like Mayers and King-attacking and aggressive- with Charles back in the mix is in no way, a slouch with the bat.

Yet, what seems to be missing is the level of consistency that one comes to expect from a team that besides being a full time ICC member, has presided over the cricketing galaxy as an irreplaceable luminary in the past.

The mention of names- Walsh, Ambrose, Sir Viv, Marshall, Sir Sobers, Sir Weekes, Sir Frank Worrell, Wes Hall, Chanderpaul, Lara- reminds one of something more than their astonishing achievements.

Maybe it also imposes an exhausting challenge to the contemporary generation about scaling summits that a generation maybe considerably more talented than this lot did.

Is it achievable? Is it even fair?

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And maybe it¡¯s somewhere here, in the gargantuan expectation of returning to the force it was back in the day, of having to continue the rich legacy that the current woes of the West Indian cricketers lie.

Or maybe, truth certainly is that the present day talent isn¡¯t as fiery or interested enough to return to the winning ways, of authoring their own destiny.

A case in point.

Greatness comes to those who persevere it. But it also comes to those who come looking for it desperately.

Are the West Indies of the present nearly as desperate as an Afghanistan for whom cricket is a means to strive for excellence, to leave behind the desolation back home in order to find a purpose in life?

Are the West Indies as hungry as The Netherlands who¡¯ve never actually had a cricketing legacy and are thus keen to form one?

Moreover, what can possibly propel the West Indies forward? Surely, it¡¯s not the lack of funds, perpetual cricketing strife where coaches and management are unreliable, when not inconsistent.

And maybe time has come to question whether the mindless, ceaseless addiction to playing a brand of risk-based, high-octane cricket that¡¯s less about thinking and more about power-hitting going to provide an adequate base to succeed in the other white ball format?

Sadly, the nostalgic fan who¡¯s seen better days in West Indies cricket can only raise these questions though without much hope whether they¡¯d be sufficiently answered or if anytime soon.

There was once a time where you feared facing the West Indies. Today, you worry what might become of them in the next approaching game.

The author is a freelance sports writer.