Sport View

By Neil Kumar

THE West Indies was humiliated and sent home from Australia as they failed miserably in an effort to qualify for a place to play in the 2022 prestigious ICC Cricket Twenty/20 World Cup Championship. The former two-time Champion was badly beaten by Scotland and then Ireland defeated the West Indies by nine wickets as the team disgracefully make their way back to the Caribbean.

The West Indies won the toss in the must-win match against Ireland and decided to bat first on a batting wicket. The trial and error opener Kyle Mayers was dismissed cheaply and his partner, another player who was catapulted to open the batting, Johnson Charles, also was dismissed early in the power play. The team also lost the out-of-form Evin Lewis for a mere 13 runs.

Brandon King, who missed the second match against Zimbabwe without any good explanation, was playing an innings to keep his place in the team. King played a solid innings but in an effort to reach his half century he batted extremely slow in the 40s. Skipper Nicholas Pooran continued to fail miserably with the bat as he was dismissed for 13. Rovman Powell was quickly sent back to the pavilion for six runs. Odean Smith scored a quick 19 not out while King made sure that he was at end of the innings with 62 runs.

The West Indies scraped to 146 for five at the end of their allotted 20 overs. Chasing a simple target of 147 to win on a perfect batting wicket, Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie blasted the West Indies bowling attack to all parts of the ground. Stirling with 66 off 48 balls and Lorcan Tucker 45 not out piloted the Ireland team to an emphatic victory.

The West Indies team was humiliated as their captain did not have any answer to the attacking Ireland batsmen. The management of the West Indies did not have any strategy as they went into the game. Their best bowler Alzarri Joseph was not given the ball to open the bowling. The genuine world class all-rounder, Jason Holder, with all his experience, was not used to bowl early in the innings. Obed McCoy was asked to open the bowling, along with Pooran’s insular friend, Akeal Hosein. The two Irish openers hammered them all over the ground to set up an easy victory.

The West Indies performance was very poor and it is time that the Caribbean leaders intervene into West Indies cricket. For more than 30 years, West Indies Cricket has been on the decline. It is clear that the administrators of West Indies Cricket, the selectors and the players are not performing with any success. While insularity is very visible, the Caribbean people must demand that the West Indies must have clear criteria on their selection policy. Fitness is one area where the administrators and selectors are using very vindictively. Evin Lewis was kept out of the team for not being fit and, at the last moment, he was included in the team. Shimron Hetmyer was also kept out of the team for fitness, while others who were clearly un-fit were selected to play in the team. Bickering, hatred, disrespect, jealousy, vindictiveness are all reasons why the performance of the team is in a continuous decline.

West Indies cricket team’s failure to be among the 12 teams in the world, to compete in the ICC World Cup Cricket, is a disgrace.
Cricket! Glorious Cricket! desperately needs the intervention of the Heads of CARICOM NOW.