Conventional wisdom has at times suggested that a team’s best chance of doing well in the format is for batsmen to spend as much time out in the middle as possible. With ball change rules, shorter boundaries, better bats, and more attacking-minded batsmen ODI scores in the last decade and a half have risen steadily. Scores in the region of 350 have become more commonplace. In fact, the top five highest scores in ODI cricket have all come in the last 14 years.
As such, Estwick points out that just occupying the crease will not be enough and the team must find a way to score runs.
“It’s hard to say you are going to bat time, you still need to make sure you get around 300 runs. We can’t just say we will sit back and bat time,” Estwick told members of the media via a Zoom press conference call on Tuesday.
“We got to come up with better game plans, we have to execute better. You know that you have a certain strike rate and certain runs per over to go at in ODI cricket,” he added.
“To be safe these days you have to make around 340, 350. It might not be that much in this series but remember we are preparing for 2023 that is when the World Cup is.”
World-class spinner Shakib Al Hasan and a full-strength Bangladesh made short work of the regional team in a lopsided 3-0 sweep of the ODI series last week. The Windies went into the series without several of its regular first-team players who pulled out of the tour for various reasons.
The ODI team, which was captained by Jason Mohammed, was the hardest hit, however, with at least eight players making their international team debut. With more proven campaigners like bowlers Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel, and batsmen Kraigg Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood, the Test team should be in better shape, in terms of experience in any case.
“It’s a big difference, we may have one, maybe two debutants for this Test series, whereas we had 10 for the ODI series. So, it’s a huge difference,” Simmons said.
“The good thing is that those guys have been down here before. On the last tour down here, Kraigg (Brathwaite) was captain, and Shannon and Roach were here. So, it’s good to have that kind of experience going into a Test series,” he added.
The West will play Bangladesh in a two-Test series, which begins on February 2nd. The second Test will take place between February 10th to 15th.
Chasing a total of 309 runs for victory, on the final day, a win seemed possible when the team entered the final break at 221 for 5, needing another 88 runs to claim victory.
The West Indies had a less-than-ideal start to the final session, however, and found themselves reduced to 273 for 8, following the dismissals of Roston Chase, Alzarri Joseph, and then Kemar Roach, in fairly quick succession.
Raymon Reifer and Joshua Da Silva then combined to help West Indies fight for the draw, playing out the final eight overs to finish on 277 for 8.
“I’m not happy with the results, we should have won it,” Simmons said following the final ball.
“We have a few misplaced wickets in the middle, while we were controlling the game, so that was a disappointment, but at the end of the day the way how the guys fought is always greatly encouraging,” he added.
With the players getting plenty of opportunities to bat and bowl in pressure situations, Simmons was though satisfied with what the tour match provided, ahead of a difficult series.
“The two games have been very good for us, mind you, flattish wickets, but the bowlers got the overs in their legs and the batsmen got their time at the crease so that was good for us.”
On the back of another strong performance from Brandon King, who scored an unbeaten 91, led the Windies to a 5 wicket win at Amstelveen. For the second game in a row the regional team chased down a figure just above 200, but the pursuit was not without its difficulties.
Also, for the second game in a row, the top order suffered somewhat of a collapse as the team lost its first three wickets for 48 runs.
“We came to Amsterdam to get victories and to be successful and I feel like we are doing a lot of the right things,” Pooran said following the match.
“Obviously, it’s a game of cricket and you can’t have the perfect game all the time…I saw with the batting that we had a bit of a collapse but then a wonderful partnership at the end and that is what we want as a team.”
The third and final match between the teams takes place on Saturday.
Spirits have been high, both for the West Indies team and many of its supporters, as the team followed up a surprise win away to Bangladesh with home wins over Sri Lanka and in both the T20 and One Day International series.
The fans will, however, be wary of celebrating a return to headier times too soon as the team has on several occasions given signs of turning the proverbial corner, so to speak, which they hope will be a crucial step to once again becoming a dominant force in world cricket. Bravo, who scored a century in the ODI series, has explained that while things have not always quite gone to plan, the team is working to make the fans happy.
“To be honest, I don’t think it’s a situation where we have to try to be perfect because you will never ever be perfect. It’s more about striving to be consistent in all facets of the game, whether it be bowling batting, or fielding,” Bravo told members of the media via a Zoom press conference call on Monday.
“I think as long as we strive for consistency then that is where you are going to see improvement. If you try to be perfect, you fall short here and there. As a team we are striving for consistency, the guys are working hard and I’m sure we are going to get it right.”
After a difficult series loss against South Africa, the West played their way to a 3-0 lead against Australia in a five-match series, before suffering their first loss on Thursday.
Even so, the affair was a closely contested one, with the Windies losing by just four runs in pursuit of the visitor’s target of 189. So far for the series the West Indies has boasted an average of 167, up from the 157.4 average against South Africa.
“I think we are getting close to where we want to be. We are starting to get opening partnerships of 50 and above, we’ll take that any day,” Pooran told members of the media via an online press conference.
“In the middle overs, for the first three games we batted really well, that is something we adjusted. After the first series we played that situation well, last time we kind of faltered there a little bit,” he added.
“All in all, I think we are getting there. You can see in the end now Fabian Allen coming in to bat with Polly out, he’s played that role wonderfully for us and can actually lengthen our batting and we can depend more on Allen. So from a standing captain's point of view, I believe we are getting there.”
The 34-year-old has not played for the West Indies since representing the squad at the World Cup last year, despite controversially featuring in several lucrative T20 tournaments since then, including the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Vitality T20 Blast.
In addition, the player has failed to make much of an impression in this season’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL), which is admittedly closely watched by the panel of selectors. In six matches the all-rounder has averaged 7.40 and has a top score of 17. With the ball, he has taken four wickets.
“We just didn’t consider Russell for selection and that was it,” Haynes said of the player’s exclusion.
“We haven’t really seen a lot of Russell in playing cricket for the West Indies recently and judging from what is happening now we just decided that we would move on,” he added.
Russell has played 67 matches for the West Indies and averaged 19.50 with a strike rate of 150. He has taken 37 wickets at an economy rate of 9.18.
For the fourth straight ODI, the West Indies struggled to occupy the crease for any significant period, this time around in pursuit of India’s of 237, which could hardly be considered as overwhelming in most circumstances.
However, as has become the norm, the team struggled early on at the top of the order, with the first three batsmen combining for 46 runs. Shamar Brooks and Akeal Hosein managed to put 42 on the board in the middle of the innings and Odean Smith added 24 late on, but chasing even such a modest target would have required plenty more stability and application, particularly at the top of the order.
Pooran, who himself made 9 from 13, insists the team needs to be much better at occupying the crease and carrying on to make notable scores.
“We kept losing wickets after developing partnerships. Especially losing soft wickets,” Pooran said following the match.
“Every time someone is set, we got out at the wrong time. The top five top six batsmen did not put up our hands tonight,” he added.
The team headed into the ODI series against India on the back of a particularly rough patch of form, having lost to Ireland for the first time in the format last month. The Windies will look to avoid a sweep when they face India in the final match on Friday.
Twelve players, including West Indies captain Jason Holder, vice-captain Roston Chase and T20 captain Kieron Pollard opted not make themselves available for the upcoming tour of Bangladesh this month. The players cited health and safety reasons in their decision to reject the tour.
The absence of the team’s first-string players will see Kraigg Brathwaite, lead the Test squad with Jermaine Blackwood as vice-captain. Former West Indies A team captain, Jason Mohammed, will lead the ODI team with Sunil Ambris as vice-captain.
There will be first-time call-ups for Kavem Hodge to the Test squad and left-handed opener Shayne Moseley and all-rounder Kyle Mayers touring in the Test squad for the first time, after being part of the reserve team to England and New Zealand.
Two players earned first call-ups to the ODI squad - Akeal Hosein, a left-arm spinner allrounder, and Kjorn Ottley, a left-handed top-order batsman. Despite expecting difficult conditions for the tour, Ambrose hopes some of the players will use the opportunity to challenge for regular places.
“I think it’s the perfect opportunity for some of these youngsters who have been knocking on the door for some time now to show the selectors and the rest of the cricket people that they are ready for this kind of cricket,” Ambrose told the Good Morning Jojo radio show.
“I am hoping these guys do very well with Bangladesh. Whether we win the series, draw the series, or even lose the series, I hope they do extremely well so that when they get back home lead selector Roger Harper and company will have some headaches to decide who to select.”
The recently concluded edition of the tournament, which was won by the Trinbago Knight Riders, did feature some of the region’s emerging talent. In fact, a list of 20 young players was, as is required, named ahead of the tournament and several players featured prominently throughout the competition.
The list included Alick Athanaze, Joshua Bishop, Leniko Boucher, Keacy Carty Roland Cato, Joshua da Silva, Dominic Drakes, Amir Jangoo, Nicholas Kirton, Mikyle Louis, Kirk McKenzie, Kimani Melius, Ashmead Nedd, Jeavor Royal, Jayden Seales, Keagan Simmons, Kevin Sinclair, Shamar Springer, Bhaskar Yadram and Nyeem Young.
There are, however, a few players who remain outside this group. Leslie pointed to the example of Roshon Primus who represented Trinbago Knight Riders in the two previous seasons. Leslie believes the idea of another country-based T20 tournament could be considered.
“The CPL has a franchise model, which in my view, has not been able to expose the best T20 cricketer that ply their trade in the Caribbean,” Leslie told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“I’ll give an example of Barbados. Barbados started a T20 domestic tournament back in 2009. Every year there are some players that contribute very well. Roshon Primus, for example, does extremely well, but the opportunity for Roshon Primus to be selected, I’m not sure there is that level of transparency,” he added.
“Simply put, you can have young U-19 West Indies players given an opportunity to make the franchises because they were on a global stage. You can have the West Indies emerging players from the Super50, did very well, given an opportunity to play T20 cricket. But what happens to local Barbadian T20 players, Trinidadians, and those across the region who ply their trade and play consistently well in their domestic tournament. I believe there is very little for those persons.”
The Caribbean team is currently 1-0 down after suffering a lop-sided defeat to Sri Lanka in the first Test. In the end, the regional team lost by 187 runs, but that could have been even worse were it not for a 100-run partnership between Bonner and Joshua Da Silva. The duo were the only ones to get above the half-century mark and to say the majority of other batsmen found the going difficult would be an understatement.
Sri Lanka’s spinners were aggressive throughout, with left-arm orthodox Praveen Jayawickrama (4 for 40 runs) and off-spinner Ramesh Mendis (3 for 75) doing the damage in the first innings. In the second innings, it was left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya who grabbed an impressive 5 for 46 and Mendis (4 for 64) and Jayawickrama (1 for 28) also doing more damage.
Bonner, who looked much more comfortable after making an adjustment for the second innings, after being dismissed for just 1 from 11 balls in the first, believes that coping with the spinners comes down to better footwork.
"These are small things we need work on if we want to be more sure in our defense, and when we attack,” Bonner said.
"It's difficult when players don't get a start. In the first innings, the ball was holding and spinning. It was a different challenge in the second innings when the ball was sliding at times, and spinning too. We have to come up with smart tactics in order to play all the left-arm spinners."
The West Indies and Sri Lanka will face off in the second Test, beginning on Sunday.
In the opening match, a total of 1,182 runs were scored over five days in a stern examination of bowlers from both teams. Things did not start out that way, however, as the Windies took four wickets at the top of the first innings only for Jonny Bairstow to lead England’s recovery in the middle overs.
“I think we just have to be a bit more disciplined in the middle periods, probably a little tighter, under three runs an over, I think. Creating that pressure will help to get more wickets in the middle overs,” Brathwaite told members of the media on Tuesday.
The West Indies will have fond recent memories of facing the English in Barbados having secured a massive 381 run win when the teams last met at the venue in 2019. Brathwaite was quick to point out, however, that the team would not be preoccupied with history.
“I think it’s history, to be honest, and we really have to look more to the future and be more disciplined. I think we can draw from some things we did well, so of the players for sure, but I think we have to buckle down and start fresh.”
Despite switching formats, the Caribbean team failed to snap its losing streak against India after skipper Rohit Sharma's quickfire 64, from 44 deliveries, laid the platform for India to post a challenging 190. The team was also boosted by an unbeaten 41 off just 19 balls from Dinesh Karthik.
In pursuit of the target, the Windies failed to put any significant partnerships together and the highest individual total of 20 came from Shamarh Brooks.
Their struggles were in large part due to the efforts of India’s spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravi Bishnoi who combined to stifle the Windies at the crease. In total, the trio picked up five wickets.
“We are going to have games like this where we are going to just get shut out. The batsmen did get starts but we didn’t capitalize on those starts. We didn’t win the big moments today and it’s as simple as that,” Pooran said following the game.
The team also made changes to its typical batting order, with all-rounder Jason Holder promoted to three. He was, however, dismissed without scoring by Ravindra Jadeja.
“It was good for us to come out here and experiment a bit. The guys did show up but we need to hold our nerve in big moments, especially when the pressure is on, we need to embrace it,” he added.
The regional team’s difficult run of form in One Day Internationals continued earlier this week, after losing to Bangladesh by six wickets in the rain-affected first match. Batting first, the Windes could only manage 149 runs in their 41 overs at the crease, a total that was easily surpassed by the visitors.
Despite showing positive signs in the other formats, the West Indies continue to struggle to find any sort of consistency or tempo in ODI cricket.
“We need to find more ways to score, whether that’s picking up more singles or finding more boundary options,” Hope said in assessing the team’s issues from the first ODI.
“It’s important for us to learn that so we can find more ways to put the bowlers under pressure so that when we do get those bad balls we can find some more runs for the bowler to bowl at,” he added.
The West Indies will meet Bangladesh in the second ODI at Providence Stadium in Guyana, on Wednesday.
After losing the toss and being sent to bat on both occasions, the West Indies failed to reach 150 in any of the two encounters. In the first, the Windies were dismissed for 149 in 41 overs, a match they lost by 6 wickets, and 108 in the second, a lopsided 9-wicket loss.
Similar to the previous encounters between the teams, the Bangladeshi spinners had the West Indies batsmen beaten all ends up. In the second ODI Nasum Ahmed and Mehidy Hasan Miraz combined for 7 wickets. Mehidy finished with 4 for 29.
“Losing the toss should not necessarily mean that you are going to lose the game. We’ve got to find a way to counteract these spinners and play the spin a lot better,” Estwick said.
“They’ve been causing us a lot of problems but it’s not for a lack of trying, the boys are trying and that’s going to be very important for us going forward,” he added.
“We still have one more game to go and we continue to learn and hope that we can take some lessons away from it.”
Bangladesh has beaten the West Indies in the last 10 straight ODI matches. The teams will play the third and final match of the series on Saturday.
Chasing a sizeable 389 to win and having lost two wickets that of opener John Campbell and bowler Kemar Roach, who played the role of the night watchman, with just 10 runs on the board, the West Indies have an uphill battle. The team’s highest score for the series so far is 318, set in the first innings of the first Test.
In five innings since the team has failed to crack the 300 barrier, which a frustrated Simmons believes is partly due to getting starts but failing to carry on and post big scores. So far for the series, Kraig Brathwaite, Shane Dowrich, Shamarh Brooks and Jermaine Blackwood have all managed half-centuries but have failed to go on to triple digits.
“We haven’t had any 100s in this series yet so I’m always putting pressure on them to get it,” Simmons told members of the media via a Zoom press conference.
“It’s still a good wicket to bat on so they have to set themselves targets of getting a big 100 on this wicket. Tomorrow is only the fourth day, so we have a lot of time to bat, but we have to show the determination to get those big scores.”
Mayers dug in to put on a useful 36 from 64 balls as the Windies secured a narrow lead over the hosts at the end of their first innings, on the third day.
Resuming the day at 69 for 1, the Windies had a strong morning session, but the Sri Lanka spinners struck back to claim the team’s last seven wickets for just 87 runs.
The Windies began the second innings with a narrow lead of 49 but kept the pressure on by striking twice with two exceptional runouts to leave the hosts at 46 for 2, at the end of the day’s play. Mayers, who did his part by dismissing the dangerous Dimuth Karunaratne, insists the team must keep that attitude heading into tomorrow.
“We need to keep down the run rate and keep up the pressure,” Mayers said, following the end of play.
“We are ahead in the game now, so if we can stop them from scoring, runs are crucial heading into the last day. The least amount of runs they get is the better it is for us,” he added.
“So, if we can keep the pressure on and squeeze some wicket out early tomorrow, first hour, I think we will be good.”
Recently, several players, including team captains Jason Holder, Kieron Pollard, and Roston Chase have pulled out of the upcoming tour of Bangladesh after citing health and safety concerns. With the team about to embark on its third tour in a few months, concerns have been raised regarding the mental effect of having to quarantine for weeks at a time, in order to take part in these competitions. The West Indies were one of the first teams to resume playing international cricket when they toured England in July, under heavy quarantine restrictions. The Windies then managed to keep busy with a tour of New Zealand earlier this month and are lined up to tour Bangladesh next month.
While admitting that it was a concern that CWI took seriously and one that was still being assessed, Harper insists things have to be looked at in a positive manner in light of the uncertainty the pandemic has unfurled.
“If you look at things from the other perspective there are a lot of people looking for the opportunity to work and continuing to do. I still think cricket is providing that opportunity for several people,” Harper told members of the media following the naming of an adjusted West Indies squad on Tuesday.
“I know there is a vaccine on the horizon and in some places, it's being doled out. We don’t know how long before it gets to this region but if cricket is going to survive, we have to seek every opportunity to play the sport at the international level and continue to perform. Life in the general sense is being affected because several people are out of work and would love the opportunity to work.”
As part of attempts to mitigate the situation, the CWI has included a psychologist as part of the touring management team.
England will resume play in a strong position to post a big total, with a settled Dom Sibley (86) and Ben Stokes (59) at the heart of the team’s first day total of 207 for 3.
On Thursday’s first day’s play, spinner Roston Chase secured a breakthrough for the Windies that had left England wobbly at 29 for 2. Following the dismissal of returning England skipper Joe Root, (23), by Alzarri Joseph, Sibley and Stokes combined to frustrate the West Indies.
With the new ball available for the start of the second day, however, Brathwaite is confident the team can secure a much-needed breakthrough.
“Obviously we would have loved more wickets, but I think we kept in touch for the day, which was good for us. We kept the pressure on. Obviously, unfortunately, we did not take the few chances that we had, but tomorrow it is very important for us to start back strong,” Brathwaite told members of the media via a Zoom press conference at the close of the day’s play.
Brathwaite believes keeping the England team at, or under, 350 would be a good target for the West Indies.
“It’s a good pitch and they batted well. So tomorrow is key for us to start well, even if we don’t get wickets we have to be tight.”
In his heyday, Roberts was part of a generation of fierce West Indian pace bowlers, a line-up which also included the likes of Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, and Malcolm Marshall, who were all known for terrorizing opposition batsmen with brutally quick deliveries.
While admitting that the up-and-coming pace bowlers can at times reach top speeds, Roberts does not believe the performances have been sustained for long enough periods of time.
“What West Indies has been lacking for a while is a genuine fast bowler. We have fast bowlers, but we don’t have anyone of genuine pace who at night the batsmen can’t see because you are thinking of tomorrow. We haven’t had that for a long time,” Roberts told the Mason and Guest radio program.
The former quick believes a part of the issue has to do with the workload required to sustain top speeds throughout a game.
“Fast bowling is hard work, and a lot of people don’t like to work hard. They believe that the ball comes quicker off the pitch than when you release it. They are not prepared to put in the hard work, the donkey work," he added.
“I find that our fast bowlers can’t bowl fast for more than 2 or 3 overs. It’s because they’re not strong enough, their legs are not strong enough.”
Windies paceman Shannon Gabriel is currently the fastest of the current crop, but Roberts believes, even for him, there is a significant drop-off in pace the longer the bowler plays in a match.
“It’s your legs that carry you through as a fast bowler not just your chest…when Shannon Gabriel was bowling in the 90s, he bowled a number of balls 92, 95 but that was between 10 and 11 o clock between 2 and 3 o clock it's down to high 80s. Why, because his legs aren’t strong enough.”
