In Tuesday’s semi-final, the Zouks annihilated last season’s finalist Guyana Amazon Warriors in a crushing 10-wickets win. The Warriors were shockingly bowled out for 55, the second-lowest total in CPL history, before the St Lucia-based franchise easily eclipsed the total.
The win was, however, even more, significant for the franchise who prior to this season had never made it to the playoffs let alone put themselves in a position to claim the title. Facing the rampaging Trinbago Knight Riders, who are yet to lose a match this season, the St Lucia Zouks will find themselves in a similar position, that is playing the role of underdogs.
“I told the guys. We didn’t come here to celebrate a semi-final. Nobody gave us a chance. From the start, I’ve said we have some effective guys. We don’t have guys in the top five in the runs but we play as a team, especially when we are out there in the field,” Sammy said.
“We want to win. Obviously TKR they are the team to beat. We have said in our dressing room if you want to win the final you have to go through TKR. It was a similar situation with the West Indies. We said if you want to win, you have to beat India and we have our silent confidence in the dressing room.”
Despite a relatively solid year in the red ball format, the Windies will start as massive underdogs against the top-ranked Australians on Sunday. In addition to the fact that West Indies has not secured a win against Australia at home since 1993 the team has won just games in the last 8 Test series.
Having managed solid wins against England and Bangladesh in their last two series, however, Brathwaite will be hoping to spring a surprise. For that, keeping focus will be crucial.
“We have 10 days of hard Test cricket to play. We know Australia are a very, very good team, especially at home. So, the main thing for us is to focus on our discipline,” Brathwaite of the media on Tuesday.
“When we are batting, we want to bat 100 overs plus, when we are bowling, we are looking to get 20 wickets. So that obviously is to help the team win a game. We know Australia is a superior team. We have to play 10 days of hard cricket that’s the focus.”
The West Indies will play Australia in two Test matches. The first will bowl off in Perth on December 4th, followed by a trip to Adelaide from December 7th-12th.
The West Indies and England are expected to mark a return to international cricket action, with a three-Test series, which will be held in the UK, in July. Due to ongoing fears concerning the Coronavirus, the matches will be played without fans and in a sterile environment. Small, insists, however, that he does not expect or want to see a competitively sterile series.
Archer, who is himself another Barbadian-born national turned Englishman and former West Indies youth representative, is expected to capture a good deal of the spotlight. The bowler who began his career in promising fashion, took 22 wickets in his first four matches at an average of just over 20. Some of his 95-per-hour thunderbolts, often had batsmen on the ropes, unsettling even the best of them. During the Ashes, Archer delivered frightening deliveries that struck Australian batsman Steve Smith on the arm and then around the neck area before he could react to the ball. The bowler has struggled to reproduce such form since and has been hampered by injury. With the hiatus from sport granting him some recovery time and being recently declared fit for the series, Small is hoping to see that fire return.
“He had a great first year in the international game. He came back from South Africa with an injury and didn’t play the last couple of Test matches. Hopefully the time off has allowed his injuries to heal and he can come back charging and hitting guys on the helmet as he did in that series last summer,” Small told the Mason and Guest Radio program.
"I think the term fast bowler gets offered around loosely, especially in the modern game but this guy is genuinely quick and he makes it looks so easy...it’s good to see batsmen hopping around the crease."
Pollard was captain of the team at the previous edition of the tournament, which ended in a similarly disastrous fashion. On that occasion, however, the team, which consisted of veteran 30-somethings Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Andre Russell, and 40-something-year-old Chris Gayle, was criticized for being too old.
Pollard, who retired from international cricket earlier this year, however, believes the sub-par display at this year’s tournament should also serve as a cautionary tale for selecting teams with too little experience.
“We have a young captain, we have young players, guys who have played only a handful of T20 cricket and now they are in the World Cup. When I look back at it, I sit back and I have a smile on my face because I remember some of the things that we said around last year this time when some individuals weren’t selected,” Pollard told Trinidad and Tobago radio.
“I just had to remind these people that there was a World Cup we were going to and another bilateral series. Now some of these individuals get a chance to play in the World Cup and again look what has happened. It's no fault of theirs,” Pollard added.
"When we tried to protect them and let people understand they were not ready and for that we were lambasted. There were a lot of things that were said that we are very derogatory at times. It’s a sad day for West Indies cricket and all of us.”
The tournament, being staged in a biosecure atmosphere in Trinidad and Tobago, due to the ongoing threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, has been widely panned for poor batting performances and low scoring.
Statistically, the average score per innings has fallen some 27 runs behind last season, which had an innings average of around 151, as compared to this season’s average of 122. Perhaps even more instructive, is the fact that in completed matches this season teams have failed to reach double digits on eight occasions as opposed to just once last season.
A lot of speculation has surfaced regarding the reason for the diminished performances to date. Among them is the fact that players have not played for months, due to the pandemic, and the condition of the pitch. It has also been suggested that possible quarantine fatigue might be affecting some players who took part in the England series. It has, however, also been suggested that a lot of it is simply down to irresponsible batting. To a large extent, Harper concurs.
“I think that yes we expected to have some better cricket. I think at times a lot of power play was put in and not enough brain play,” Harper told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“We are happy to have some cricket but yes we expected to have some better performances generally, particularly on the batting side of things,” he added.
“Ideally you would like to have pitches more conducive to stroke play from the get-go. But the batsmen that have generally succeeded have adapted very well. They have given themselves some time to get in and then capitalised later. Some players have not gotten that memo as yet, some teams are still trying to score all the runs upfront, when all the runs are scored at the back end.”
Following a difficult 4-1 series loss to top team India, the team narrowly lost its opening match against the Kiwis by 13 runs, thanks in large part to the late-innings heroics of Romario Shepherd and Odean Smith.
Chasing a decent total of 185, the West Indies lost wickets in clusters in the middle overs but Shepherd and Smith added 58 for the seventh wicket. Having cracked a score of 150 just once in the previous series, Pooran found some encouragement in the team’s opener, despite the result.
“I’m happy we are starting to find our template. We know scores above 175, 180 can be tricky for us but we can see that we are actually starting to bat deep,” Pooran said, following the match.
“Guys are actually starting to play the situation a bit smarter. Today Jason was in that position with Shamarh Brooks. I thought both of them batted really well, they just never got that big over that was required, having said that, I think the template is coming nicely,” he added.
The West Indies and New Zealand will play the second match of the series on Friday.
For the first time in decades the team heading into a tournament, without the likes of some of its most experienced T20 campaigners with the likes of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, and Andre Russell no longer counted among their numbers.
Despite that fact, however, Holder insists the team has plenty of quality at its disposal.
“I don’t think we are missing anyone, I think we have every tool that we need in this dressing room,” Holder said.
In Sunday’s opening Group B encounter, the team suffered a shocking 42-run defeat at the hands of Scotland. The match almost certainly put West Indies in a must-win situation against world number 11th- ranked Zimbabwe, with only the top two teams from the group.
Against Scotland, the team put in a creditable performance with the ball as Alzarri Joseph and Holder himself each claimed two wickets. With the bat, however, the team was once again found wanting. As has often been the case it was spin that proved the undoing of the Windies at the crease. With Mark Watt and Michael Leask leading the way for the Scots, the Windies were bundled out for 118, with only Holder again making an impact with 38 from 33.
For their part, Zimbabwe were impressive in their opener against Ireland, taking the encounter by 31 runs and Holder knows it will take a special effort.
“We are just going to have to dig deep. There is no other way to really put it, we just have to dig deep and bring it together,” Holder added.
The West Indies will face Zimbabwe at 3:00 am on Wednesday.
The 2019 champions slumped to a sixth defeat in seven matches to finally end their dim and distant hopes of reaching the knockout stages, allowing rivals Australia to apply the killer blow in Ahmedabad.
Having already lost to New Zealand, Afghanistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and India it was hardly a surprise to see England beaten by 33 runs. However, the continued downward spiral of a once-feared batting line-up continues to bemuse.
Here they were rounded up for 253 and have now lost 67 of a possible 69 wickets in the competition. While their bowling attack has raised its game in the past two games, the runs have dried up in alarming fashion, rendering England unable to compete.
And a forlorn Buttler, who appears to be finding his post-match appearances increasingly wearing, put his own poor returns front and centre on the list of problems.
He is widely considered one of the country’s best ever white-ball players but his tame dismissal for just one against Australia means he has now scored just 106 runs at an average of 15.14 at the World Cup.
“It’s a low point, it hurts a lot,” he said.
“We feel like we’ve let people down and you wear that on your own shoulders. You want to lead from the front as a captain.
“My own form has really hurt us. Obviously, I’ve had a pivotal position in the batting line-up, so to play as poorly as I have done has had a big effect on the team.
“Coming into the tournament I felt in fantastic form, as good as I’ve been in. So, to be sat here having had the tournament I’ve had is incredibly frustrating – but it doesn’t shake your belief.
“I’ve got to make sure I’m the last one that stops believing in myself. You guys (the media) will give up on me a lot earlier than I’ll give up on myself.”
England have two games left before they can finally put the campaign behind them, against the Netherlands and Pakistan, and know even back-to-back wins may not be enough to see them qualify for the next major 50-over tournament.
They need to finish in the top eight to seal a place at the Champions Trophy in 2025 and are currently an outside bet to do so.
So, while they would be forgiven for pining for the exit lounge, the stakes are too high.
“Exactly that,” Buttler added. “You know, the Champions Trophy is a tournament we want to be involved in and if we’re going to be involved in it, we need to win some games of cricket.
“We threatened today but it’s still not good enough.”
Australia’s Mitchell Starc took a jab at England in an interview with host broadcaster Star Sports, resurrecting a familiar theme from this summer’s Ashes series.
Nodding to the notion that England had edged the 2-2 drawn series thanks to their domination of the rain-ruined Old Trafford Test, he said: “We expected England to come out a bit more aggressive, but they can take the ‘moral victory’ from this.”
The 2019 champions managed to muster very little resistance in the semi-final, where England cruised to a 10-wicket win after the East Asian team made 168 for 6. The West Indies were themselves meekly dumped out of the tournament but after losing to two associate teams sotland and Ireland in the first round.
Performances at the tournament were not, however, what the former batting star was referring to, but instead the issue of India players potentially facing a disadvantage from not being allowed to play in other T20 league’s around the world.
For his part, the coach conceded that it might be a disadvantageous but believes it is a necessity to protect the quality of India’s cricket.
“There is no doubt that England players have come and played in this tournament(Big Bash T20). It’s tough, it’s very difficult vor Indian cricket because a lot of these tournaments happen right at the peak of our season. I think it’s a huge challenge for us. A lot of our boys do miss out on the opportunity of playing in these leagues, but its up to the BCCI to make that decision,” Dravid said.
“And with the kind of demand there would be for Indian players… if you allowed them to play in these leagues, we won't have domestic cricket. Our domestic cricket, our Ranji Trophy would be finished, and that would mean Test cricket would be finished. We have to be very careful; we have to understand that Indian cricket faces or BCCI faces in a situation like this," he added.
“A lot of boys are asked to play leagues in the middle of our season, we have seen what it has done to West Indian cricket, and I definitely don't want Indian cricket to go that way. It would affect Ranji Trophy and Test cricket and Indian boys playing Test cricket is pretty important for the Test game as well, I would think,” Dravid said.
The decision to drop the 27-year-old Hope, after his recent monumental struggles, has divided public opinion. While some believe the player could benefit from time away from the team to address potential confidence and technical issues, others believe the batsman would best be served staying within the system, even if he remains outside of the first team.
Rose, for his part, believes with the team currently in rebuilding mode, nothing will be gained from the talented player being pushed out of the squad at this point.
“They’re rebuilding, how are you going to get rid of the guy (Hope) when you are rebuilding. He’s one of the brightest talents,” Rose told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“West Indies cricket is rebuilding. You cannot chop and change while rebuilding. Shai Hope, one of the best talents in the Caribbean, you just drop him like that. I would have brought him on tour, got him to play a few of the practice games. Even if he doesn’t get to play Test matches. What cricket is he going to play now to get back his confidence?”
Former England fast bowler Gladstone Small has branded the inclusion of off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall, for the final Test match against England, as a useless change and evidence of a West Indies squad that was overly conservative.
So far, bowlers have rarely managed to gain the ascendancy with the two previous pitches in Antigua and Barbados offering very little in the way of assistance. In the previous Test, a total of 1,238 runs were scored, including a deflating 507 for 9 declared scored by England in the first innings.
If the West Indies are to break the deadlock on the back of two prior draws, Roberts believes the region’s pace bowlers must give more effort at the crease to unsettle the English batsmen.
“Aggressive doesn’t mean you have to be up in somebody’s face, but you can be aggressive in your approach, you can be aggressive in your steering because that’s one of the things I did. I never swore but when I looked at you and I see you turn away, then I say ‘yes, I have you because you can’t look me in the eye’, and that is what is required,” Roberts told the Good Morning Jojo Radio program.
“I see many West Indian fast bowlers going back to the days of Mervyn Dillion, Reon King, and when they get hit for boundaries they smile, they don’t get upset,” he added.
“The ball doesn’t come off the pitch faster than you release it, so if you’re a fast bowler then it means you’re a fast bowler, you can’t be a fast bowler and a fast-medium bowler. What is being taught today is line and length and bowl fourth and fifth stump outside the off stump, but instead of attacking the batsman, attacking the stumps, they are bowling outside of off stump, which is what they practice so sometimes it seems as though the coaches are at fault sometimes. In order to get the best out of the fast bowlers, you have to encourage them to bowl fast.”
According to a release issued by Cricket West Indies (CWI), which roiled the cricketing world on Monday, the body opted to replace Hetmyer with Shamarh Brooks after the player missed a rescheduled flight, having been advised of the consequences of doing so.
The release stated that the player's original flight was changed from Saturday to Monday due to family reasons but did not mention if Hetmyer had given a reason for being unable to catch the second flight.
“I must say I am a bit surprised because who wouldn’t want to play in the World Cup tournament and who wouldn’t want to represent their country,” Ambrose told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“What I heard in the media is that he had some family issues. So, I take it that if you are going to miss playing for your country, or playing at the World Cup then he has some serious issues to deal with. I reckon that if that’s the case, you want to ensure that whatever issues he has with his family are being sorted, so he has to miss the World Cup. I wish him well.”
After losing the first two matches by margin of 142 runs, things did not get better for the Caribbean team as England closed out the series with another dominant display in 151 run win margin on Friday.
At the crease for the series, overall, while England averaged 274, the Windies could only manage 131, producing their lowest total of in the final game, avter limping to 105. On the back of a battling display against New Zealand Women, in September, Walsh admits that he was expecting a better performance from the team.
“I thought that it was a poor series by us. We did not play the type of cricket that we wanted to play. England outplayed us,” Walsh said.
“The bowling was not bad and the fielding was not bad but in all three games the batting wasn’t what we expected, wanted or were looking for,” he added.
“It was a lot of disappointment because I know we can play better cricket than that and we did not show that.”
Rashada Williams was the team’s highest scorer over the 3 matches, making a combined total 93 after scoring a half century in the first match. The team will now turn its attention to the T20 series, which bowls off on Sunday.
Russell was invited to join the team for the upcoming tour of New Zealand but, according to Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief of selectors Roger Harper, declined after claiming he needed space to ‘clear his head’ after having to deal with playing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The player last represented the West Indies on tour of Sri Lanka earlier this year, where his scintillating 40 from 14 deliveries saw him named man-of-the-match.
Even with such brilliant performances under his thumb, Harper insisted he was keeping an eye on things and that emerging talent could make it difficult for the 32-year-old to continually be selected ‘if they take their opportunities.’
“I think as we move forward we will look at all situations, all players and determine whether we need to continue to look at those players, continue to consider those players, or we need to move on,” Harper told members of the media, from the team’s training camp in New Zealand, in reference to the situation.
“A lot of things are determined by how well the team performs. How well the players in the team at the time perform, and the success of the team. I think if players in the team perform exceedingly well, then it will make it difficult for those that are not on the tour to get back into the team. So a lot of things will be taken into consideration as we move forward.”
The regional team is coming off a difficult run of matches in the ODI format where it lost its last nine in a row. Recent history suggests the Windies will, however, be far more competitive in the T20 format. The team is in fact coming off a 3-0 sweep of Bangladesh in 20 overs, before experiencing a reversal of fortunes in the ODIs.
The team has also typically competed well against India in the format, but it is the Indians who have ended up with the lion's share of the victories in recent years. Pooran is hoping that particular statistic will be changed.
“The guys are always up for the challenge against India, they want to show the world what they are made of as well,” Pooran told members of the media on Thursday.
“For some reason, we just turn up and perform well, unfortunately, we haven’t been getting the series wins and that is something that we need to happen. We don’t want to perform as players and the team is still losing. So, the only thing on our mind is to find a way to be successful.”
The West Indies and India will square off for five matches beginning on Friday.
A shocking first-round exit from the tournament last month cast a long shadow over cricket in the Caribbean region, which remains in the process of searching for answers.
Despite the change in formats, some have suggested that the team could be negatively impacted heading into the series. Holder, however, does not believe it will be the case.
“I think for me the World Cup is behind me, we just have to look forward to this series,” Holder told members of the media on Tuesday.
The Test unit, led by Kraigg Brathwaite has been in before form and has won the last two series.
“It’s a fresh group with different players a whole different dynamic. The prospects of this team have been really good, they’ve played some really good cricket this year and they have good leadership. Kraigg has done an outstanding job and he’s led the boys really well, so we are looking forward to the prospects here.”
As the Windies celebrated the 5th anniversary of their historic victory over India at the 2016 Showpiece in Eden Gardens, Sammy reiterated that he would never apologise to Cameron for his statements, which eventually put an end to his international career.
“You seek forgiveness when you have done something wrong. I wouldn’t change anything I said because I spoke the truth as to what went on and yes, I paid the price for it, but that’s the way life goes. My Mom always said if you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything,” he said while a guest on Line & Length on SportsMax
“I thought I was a true representative to my team. To Dave Cameron, he has moved on. I recently saw on your show he said he is still available for advice…but I don’t know how the current administration would think about that,” he explained.
After Carlos Brathwaite hit four consecutive sixes off Ben Stokes to upset England in the final over, Sammy chose the presentation ceremony to vilify the administration for a number of matters prior to the tournament and during the competition when players clashed with CWI over fees, equipment, and communication differences.
“There is a vibe and player-harmony now. The players are playing for their captain...added to that, it’s been great watching Jason Holder and the respect he has gained even though no longer captain. West Indies cricket seems to be moving in the right direction,” said Sammy.
For the West Indies in the One-Day International format, a main problem over the last few years has been an inability to bat for their full 50 overs.
Speaking on Saturday ahead of the start of the regional team’s limited-overs tour of India, Captain Kieron Pollard says the main focus will be to rectify that.
“For this series against India, I think one of the things we need to take forward is how we bat 50 overs. We haven’t batted 50 overs for the last couple series against Ireland and Australia so that’s something that we need to look at. As a team, we need to follow the template and follow the plans that are put out there so we can be successful,” said Pollard.
“It’s another opportunity for us to test our skills and see where we are, coming up against a formidable Indian team in Indian conditions. If my memory serves me correctly, I think the last time we were down here, we did pretty well. We didn’t win the series but we pushed them so now we’re looking to push that one step further,” he added.
His memory does serve him correctly as the last time the West Indies toured India in 2019, they suffered 2-1 series defeats in both the ODIs and T20Is.
Asked about where he is mentally going into this series, Pollard said: "I’m in a good space, you know. I didn’t tour Pakistan so I got some much-needed time off to refresh the mind and body. Coming back in the Ireland series was difficult and the England series was tough as well but these things happen.
"Once you have intentions of playing sports; emotions, mental space, physical capabilities, all these things are tested and, for me, I’ve played my entire career with a lot of things riding on it and I’ve come through it with a smile on my face and that’s how I’m going to finish my career as well.”
The West Indies will oppose India in three ODIs and three T20Is, with the first ODI taking place on Sunday.
The 29-year-old has scored 1150 runs in 47 T20Is at an average of 28.04 since his debut against Afghanistan in Lucknow in 2019.
Captaincy is not new for King as he most recently captained the Jamaica Scorpions in the West Indies Championship after leading the Jamaica Tallawahs in last season’s Caribbean Premier League.
“Definitely,” was King’s response when asked about whether or not it is an honor to lead the regional side for the first time.
“It couldn’t be scripted better. It’s an honour to lead the West Indies in any capacity and even more to do it at home so I’m very happy,” he added.
In addition to leading the Windies for the first time, King also expressed joy at getting to do it in his home country Jamaica.
“Obviously, extremely happy. I’m always excited to play at home. It’s good that we get some cricket in especially leading up to the world cup. It brings some excitement to the fans so I’m happy about it,” he said.
The squad recently had a training camp and King is looking forward to the squad getting an opportunity to get some match practice ahead of the world cup set for June 1-29.
“Match practice is something that you can’t replicate in training. We’re coming from a training camp and this is our opportunity to put those plans and skills in place so we’re very much looking forward to it,” he said.
Despite some regular squad members being missing from the squad due to the IPL playoffs, King says the players present are looking to implement some of the plans that many hope will lead to West Indian success at the world cup.
“A few of the guys aren’t here as yet but I think the communication has been clear with the whole group. We know how we want to play and the guys that are here, we’re looking to implement that in this series and see how it goes,” he said.
