Ahead of the start of the West Indies England tour, doubts have repeatedly been raised of not just the team’s top order, but the overall unit as well, as they prepare to stand up to an experienced English bowling line-up. Since a 2-1 defeat to England, on their last tour in 2017, West Indies have a batting average of 23.59 across 19 Tests. Nor can the team take comfort in some of the showings during the recent intra-squad matches, which served as preparation for the series. In the final warm-up, a top-five of Kraigg Brathwaite, John Campbell, Shamarh Brooks, Shai Hope, and Roston Chase found themselves reduced to 9 for 3 and 49 for 5.
“The runs don’t have to only come from the top order. I think we are putting a lot of emphasis on the top order. Yes, they probably haven’t lived up to the expectations but in general, it’s a team sport and we just have to put runs on the board,” Holder told members of the media during a Zoom press conference on Tuesday.
“Personally, I don’t care, it’s just for us to put runs on the board and give our bowlers something to work with.”
The CPL is slated to get under way in August of this year but there is a lot of uncertainty, not just regarding its staging, but also the format it will take as well. One of the ideas being floated around suggests a ‘social distancing’ version of the tournament, which would be held at Barbados' Kensington Oval.
While some players have claimed an empty stadium could be awkward, Walsh, who is a part of the defending champion Barbados Tridents, has insisted it would be business as usual. Unlike the massive crowds associated with the CPL, the regional competitions do struggle at times to attract any significant crowd following.
“We still have quite some time to try and get ready while we are waiting for the tournament to come around. We see some progress with the region recovering from the virus, and probably at the start, it may affect the tournament where the social distancing is concerned, and it might not, but I am used to playing in front of an empty stadium in regional cricket where pretty much no one comes sometimes, so I guess it would be business as usual,” Walsh told the Antigua Observer.
Walsh, the tournament’s top wicket-taker last season, was one of nine Barbados Tridents retained. The list also includes captain Jason Holder, Johnson Charles, Shai Hope and Raymon Reifer, Ashley Nurse and Johnathan Carter.
In recent days, both violent and peaceful protests have swept across the United States as citizens demand justice for the killing of George Floyd. Floyd, an African American male in his 40s, died after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, was recorded kneeling on his neck while he was pinned to the floor for several minutes during an arrest.
According to reports, police had been called to the scene after a convenience store clerk alerted the authorities regarding what he suspected to be a counterfeit $20 bill used by Floyd to purchase a pack of cigarettes. Chauvin has since been arrested and charged with third-degree murder but protests have continued to boil over as the issue has sparked a larger debate regarding the deep-seated issue of racial injustice.
Many athletes around the world, spanning several generations, have not been shy in making their thoughts known on the issue. The long list includes NBA greats Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lebron James, and rising tennis star Coco Gauff. In the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho and Achraf Hakimi displayed “Justice for George Floyd messages” scrawled on t-shirts hidden beneath their jerseys after scoring. Schalke’s 21-year-old American midfielder Weston McKennie and Borussia Monchengladbach’s 22-year-old French forward Marcus Thuram also displayed support for the movement.
Closer home the ICC T20 World Cup-winning captain believes things have been too quiet and called on officials to add their voices to the mix.
“@ICC and all other boards are you guys not seeing what’s happening to people like me? Are you not gonna speak against the social injustice against my kind…” Sammy said in a series of tweets.
“Now is not the time to be silent. I wanna hear u.”
Joining Sammy in speaking out was West Indies star batsman Chris Gayle who also posted a message on social media that advocated for black lives to be considered as important as any other life.
“Black life matters just as any other life,” Gayle’s statement read.
“Even within teams as a Black man, I get the end of the stick.”
The 75-year-old Lloyd has been respected for generations, not just for his cricketing ability but steady and inspiring leadership, which saw the West Indies lift back-to-back ICC World Cup titles in 1975 and 1979.
With the team currently a long way from those heady days of success, several former players have pointed to the issue of mentorship as a missing element in the current team’s success and have been quick to offer their assistance to rectify the problem. Not so fast, says Lloyd.
“We have to find out how strong they are in certain departments. You can’t just say this guy is going to be this when he isn’t suited for that role. You have to find out what strengths he or she has,” Lloyd told the Mason and Guest Radio program.
“I’m talking about players that have done extremely well, have been through the mill, and can pass the knowledge on," he added.
"Not every great player can be a teacher but there are certain aspects and things that they are strong at, and that is what we have to search for, so that when we have a player coming through and they get to Test level they are not learning on the job they have already qualified.”
The 24-year-old bowling all-rounder has accused Cricket West Indies (CWI) of leaving her to fend for herself after getting injured during a training camp in preparation for the International Cricket Council 50-over World Cup three years ago. Multiple operations and several failed rehabilitations later the player remains not only unable to resume her craft but on occasion has issues with mobility.
CWI CEO Johnny Grave has, however, strongly refuted claims that the organization has not been supportive of the player.
“We have provided enormous financial support and medical support for Shaquana since she got injured back in 2017…we have paid huge sums of money for her to try and get her career back and try and get back to full fitness,” Grave told the Mason and Guest Radio program.
According to Grave, the organisation’s Total and Permanent Disablement policy, which did not exist for the women’s team in 2017 was extended to Quintyne, in light of the injury.
Reid, however, also a former chairman of women’s cricket for the BCA when Quintyne was captain of the team, has also disputed the level of support provided by the CWI and does not believe it went far enough.
“When she got injured in Antigua in March 2017 she was not even taken to a doctor, a clinic, or to a hospital. She got injured and was sent back to Barbados two days after. When she came back to Barbados she was given instructions to see a doctor, that doctor was not even in Barbados. So, she contacted me in all the pain and tears, and I took her to see an orthopedic surgeon,” Reid told the Mason and Guest Radio program.
Reid went on to explain that the player was unable to continue seeing that orthopedic surgeon in Barbados, after the CWI provided recommendations and means for the player to have surgery and treatment in Jamaica. After some relief, the conditions, however, returned and Quintyne then got permission to be treated by the surgeon in Barbados. The player again experienced some relief but after the conditions returned in 2018 was recommended for a third surgery, this time in Canada, on the advice of the Barbadian orthopedic surgeon.
“That is where Cricket West Indies assistance ended. When she came back from Canada in March 2018, with the understanding that in three months’ time she would have returned to Canada for observation and further analysis, Cricket West Indies not agree for her to go,” Reid explained.
“So, she was in pain all of the time until she decided to go back with her own money. In November 2018 she had another operation, all at her expense. She was spending all of her money so she is poor now because she spent all of her money trying to get herself back in condition," he added.
“Right now, as we speak as she put it, her knee has locked up and she is in excruciating pain and she cannot walk, she is crying and immobile.”
The addition of the name of the former legendary batsman to the speculative list of potential replacement for Phil Simmons has garnered mixed reactions. In opposition, some have pointed to Chanderpaul’s relative lack of experience, while others believe he would be more suited to a role in administration.
For Radford, who is well acquainted with the former player, there is no doubting the quality he would be able to bring to the role.
“I’m a big fan, I’ve often talked about Shiv and what he brought to the game as a player. He was a very hard worker and meticulous in preparation, a lot of the things I think he would instil as coach for the younger players,” Radford told the Mason and Guest show.
“He has been there and done it. He was number one in the world for a period of time, a top Test player in the world. He has played all round the world. I think he would bring a huge amount to it,” he added.
“He is new to coaching and still finding his feet but he is having relative success and I think he would bring a lot to it,” he added.
Radford, however, believes the former batsman would have to be supported by a very capable team, which is always the case for head coaches as opposed to specialist coaches. Chanderpaul, who retired from the sport six years ago, has already experienced some success as a coach, having led the Jamaica Tallawahs to the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title last year.
The regional team has endured a particularly wretched run of form across all formats in recent months. A poor showing at the T20 World Cup saw the two-time champions embarrassingly eliminated in the first round of the competition after loses to Scotland and Ireland.
In the aftermath, Simmons, and, then later team captain Nicholas Pooran, resigned their positions. The Test team then traveled to Australia to face the home team in a two-match series where they were badly outplayed. In the second Test, for instance, the team lost by a massive 419 runs after being bowled out for 77.
In light of such performances, Murray believes there needs to be many more changes at the broader management level than just Simmons, if the team is to truly start moving forward.
“I want to commend Phil Simmons he has done the honourable thing.
He was responsible for the team when we did not qualify for the T20 World cup and he did the hourrable thing,” Murray told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“We should not assume for one minute, however, that one man, Philip Simmons, is responsible for the decline, for the losses of West Indies cricket," he added.
“I keep looking to see others follow suite but nothing like that has happened…”
Murray went on to state that he believed the entire government system surrounding the sport in the region needed to change.
Weekes, who was the only living member of the legendary three Ws, which had also included Sir Frank Worrell and Sir Clyde Walcott, passed away earlier this week at the age of 95. The on-pitch records written by the iconic cricketer are many and fabled, but tellingly, his impact on the sport did not stop when he retired from it in 1958.
Despite the gulf in years and many generations in-between them, Weekes served as a mentor to 31-year-old Brooks and many others along the way. Freely dishing out needed advice at cricket grounds he once dominated.
“When I scored my first Test 100 in India, against Afghanistan, I spoke to sir Everton. And even in first-class cricket if there is a game played at Kensington, he would always be in the president’s suite watching,” Brooks told members of the media.
“We would also be able to go up there either during the game or after the game to have a word with him about what he had seen or what we could do differently or that kind of stuff,” he added.
According to the player, who pointed out invaluable tips he learned about playing spin, Weekes’ contribution did end when he reached the end of his life on July 1st.
“It’s sad that a great man is gone but he has left a legacy and hopefully the guys in the team now can carry on that legacy.”
The swashbuckling 31-year-old was in fine form for the Windies during their recent tour of Sri Lanka, picking up man-of-the-series honours in a 2-0 win over the home team. In fact, with a T20 strike rate of 171.29, the signature of Russell has become one of the most coveted on contracts all over the globe. His development has impressed the Trinidadian all-rounder, who knows a thing or two about high-quality performances himself.
“It’s the same thing I used to say about Chris Gayle, we are happy to have someone like Gayle representing us, we don’t have to come up and bowl against him in an international match. I think it’s the same with Andre Russell. Andre Russell now is our Chris Gayle, is our Brian Lara in the T20 format. He is a superstar, he’s the best player and we are happy,” Bravo told local Trinidad-based radio station I955 FM.
“He’s the best in the world and we’re happy to have him in our team.”
Russell has claimed a number of titles with various franchises, including five in eight months in 2016. He was named in the team of the tournament at the T20 World Cup that same year.
For some, the West Indies' recent and consistent failure on the international stage, in recent years, is in large part due to regional players being unable to attain the competitive standard required for international cricket, after taking part in a substandard regional competition.
In several instances, players that have dominated the regional season have gone on to struggle against international opponents, once called up for the West Indies. Blackwood, who heaped up 768 runs in 15 innings for Jamaica, including a double hundred against the Leeward Islands in the tournament's last match, however, has gone on to register a dominant performance against England. He believes things are changing.
“To be honest I don’t pay too much attention to who is taking this or that, everyone has their opinion,” Blackwood told members of the media via a Zoom press conference on Tuesday.
“For me, personally, things are heading in the right direction in the Caribbean. I think I put in a lot of work to score some runs in the regional 4-dayers and definitely you can see it in my body language and approach to Test cricket now. So, it has helped me to become the player I am now, and you can see the growth in my batting.”
The 22-year-old made his debut under difficult conditions in New Zealand, earlier this month, performing creditably despite a heavy loss for the West Indies. Holder ended with figures of 2 for 110, with one maiden, but often providing some testing deliveries despite not claiming more wickets.
For next month's tour, despite 12 first-team players opting not to take part in the series, there is no space in the Bangladesh Test squad for Holder. One of the players missing is West Indies captain Jason Holder, who typically makes up part of a pace bowling quartet alongside Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach, and Alzarri Joseph.
Some believe Holder would have proved a suitable replacement for his namesake, but Cricket West Indies chief of selectors Roger Harper pointed out that the player had been excluded for a spinner, considering the spin-friendly nature of pitches in Asia.
Ambrose, however, does not agree and pointed out that it is crucial the young fast bowler, having shown promise, be given the opportunity to excel in all kinds of conditions.
“That to me is utter nonsense. I can’t support that. If you want to be a top-class international cricketer, you have to be able to bowl on all surfaces, in all conditions anywhere you go,” Ambrose said.
“To me, that type of reason does not hold any water, it is disappointing. Having made his debut in New Zealand and done fairly well on his debut, he is full of confidence, he is one of the guys for the future in my view. To be left out of the Test squad to me was a big surprise…Don’t tell me because it’s a spin-friendly environment that you are going to, you want to walk with 10 spinners, that to me makes no sense.”
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.”
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 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.”
