A very common ritual in international sports performance, centres
on evaluation of the performance of teams as a collective, as well as on an individual player’s contributions, since the latter individually, or combined, determines team success.
This is essential so as to be able to identify weaknesses in execution of team plans, and what lessons are learnt from observation for future engagements.
Every major sport, ranging from cricket, rugby to football, undergo this process. One can only conclude, particularly where a defeat had been the case, that all-round performances must be improved, and the errors that had led to defeat must not be repeated; or, at best be minimised.
With West Indies cricket teams of recent times, such introspection has been common, if not frequent. It is always a positive identification of the shortcomings. But are the lessons heeded?
That the West Indies cricket team will not be in the final of the current Tripartite Celkon Mobile Series, is once again a huge setback for what advancements in team performance would have been achieved over the past two years.
Further, it is also another heart-breaking disappointment for the thousands of die-hard West Indian fans, who would have expected their home team to reign supreme, at least in a home series, albeit against two other very strong opposing cricketing sides.
But as has been the case on countless occasions during this re-building period, inconsistency of a common type is still the team’s bane. This was a tournament which the West Indies had no right to find itself as spectators in today’s final of the competition.
Therefore, one can understand Keiron Pollard’s, as substitute captain, harsh summing up of his team’s batting performance in the qualifying match against Sri Lanka. He criticised the fact that after having Sri Lanka’s batting in dire straits, the visitors went on to score 219 runs. This was a total, not beyond the quality of batting that the West Indies team now has. One agrees that the weather may have greatly assisted the Sri Lankan bowlers, yet poor shot selection lost it for the team.
It is well known that West Indies prefer to chase totals, yet one of the noticeable aspects of such challenges is that they always lose vital wickets at key moments. They were fortunate to be victorious against the other participating team, India, at Sabina Park. Thanks to Kemar Roach and Sunil Narine, whose level-headed approach carried the day, after another of those well known collapses.
According to Pollard, “ We have to regroup if we are to be totally honest with ourselves…we have not really batted well as a batting unit. Chasing scores we have lost wickets unnecessarily.” Further illustrating his point about this continuing batting let down, he said, “Players including myself making the same mistakes over and over…We gave away our wickets at significant points in time.”
These are all very frank admissions by a player, who despite having not played a Test match, has established himself as a world-class player particularly in the 20/20 format. One can almost feel the utter frustration and even anger in his comments. Surely, by his frank outpouring, he knows where the leak is. The trouble is – it has re-occurred.
