By Marlon Munroe
With a string of repellent performances designed to drive away an already wary cricket public and amidst persistent ramblings between the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players’ Association, the West Indies team arrived in Guyana yesterday smarting from their humiliating Twenty20 defeat against opponents Zimbabwe on Sunday.
Zimbabwe, placed last in the ICC rankings, thrashed the West Indies in the lone Twenty20 international match in Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday by 26 runs as the Caribbean side chased 106 for victory.
The first of the two ODIs scheduled for the Guyana National Stadium is on Thursday while the second one will be on Saturday.
While it is worthy to mention that some of West Indies’ senior players were absent from the team, there can no excuse for the general attitude of the players who somehow felt that they were going to steamroll the minnows. In the end the Zimbabweans gained a huge psychological advantage over the WI team that was looking to redeem itself after being beaten by England, Bangladesh and most recently Australia.
The victory also could not have been sweeter for the Africans especially when one considers that seven of their batsmen failed to get off the mark, including stylish wicketkeeper/batsman Tatenda Taibu, who had scored a century against the Vice Chancellor’s XI a few days prior. Additionally, they were struggling at 11-4 and their players dug deep to take their team to 105 proving their mettle to cope with trouble.
The same could not have been said for the West Indies players who wilted and died – taking another big chunk of tolerance out of their die hard fans who must be tired with their continued mediocrity.
Further, an optimistic new coach Ottis Gibson was greeted with the harsh and sickening reality of West Indies cricket.
Kaieteur News columnist Rawle Welch in his article yesterday titled “WI gives sponsors justification to invest elsewhere” was prompted to say “Reeling from a sharp decline in support from the business sector that has severely affected our regional tournament, yesterday’s display against Zimbabwe might have supplied sponsors who were mulling over offering their assistance with credible evidence to move on.”
Meanwhile, after the WI team’s arrival they went straight to the Pegasus Hotel and according to sources they were resting.
Yesterday afternoon they were over at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) going through a mild training session before they get into full gear today at the same venue.
The Zimbabwe team, which is currently in a period of transition after their experienced players quit six years, will be practicing at the Providence National Stadium.
Captain Prosper Utseya, Hamilton Masakadza, Elton Chigumbura and Taibu, who would have gained international experience after the pulling out of the top players, will be looking to wear the West Indies thin so as to get back in the fray of international cricket.
