Apart from the post-game fiasco, the seemingly new militant behavior of West Indies cricketers, the double Twenty20 (T20) World title wins by the men’s and women’s teams made every Caribbean person feel great again, even if it was for one solitary day.
Such is the power of sports success.
The feeling Sunday was akin to the superiority we all revelled in when the Dream Team of the late 1970’s and ‘80s dominated Test and 50 overs competitions for 15 years, long before T20 came into being.
Even in the land of today’s Usain Bolt, arguably the greatest sprint athlete of all time, one woman in Jamaica told the BBC, the exploits of the Windies lads and lasses in India made Sunday the greatest day of her life.
Yet it should not be surprising. West Indies is now the only nation with two men’s T20 World Cups. The players are ready made to succeed in the game of instant results as the territories are producing an endless stream of powerful ball strikers, with boundless athleticism and great appetites for the financial riches that T20 provide.
Cricket’s shortest format does not require extreme stamina fitness, nor great powers of concentration or precise techniques that are must haves to succeed in the longer Test version and to a lesser extent the 50 overs variety.
One powerful blast of a shot or a single acrobatic catch in the field could mean the difference between a win or defeat in T20 clashes. In the longer version, you are required to repeat those feats over and over again in five days to win.
Carlos Braithwaite’s match winning 30-run innings that sank England in the men’s final Sunday would be considered a failure and a cause for axing instead.
Samuel Badree, whose accuracy in four-over spells made him West Indies best bowler in the Cup, would hardly reap the bundles of wickets needed from 20-plus overs spells in two innings that can amount to at least two and a half days of work in Tests.
It also helped that, like their predecessors of the 70’s and 80’s who gained valuable exposure in foreign lands in four-day club competition in the English and Australian Leagues, this era of West Indian players, play year round in the top T20 tournaments worldwide.
The IPL, Big Bash, Ram Slam etc., along with the Caribbean Premier League have refined the skills of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Braithwaite and Badree etc.
Nevertheless, Test competition remains the gold standard for the sport of statistics where greatness forever will be measured by numbers of centuries and five-wicket hauls made.
These days though, West Indies, more than any other nation, has more power hitters in the ranks, with the finesse to make room with the front foot, to blast otherwise well pitched deliveries over the fence for match winning hits.
All four sixes Braithwaite hammered off Ben Stokes in the final over in Kolkata, were achieved that way.
India has few others to complement the fast scoring Virat Kohli, like it was in England’s case with Joe Root.
Similarly in the women’s competition, none of Australia, New Zealand and the Asian teams had the extra resources of power hitters, West Indies had to complement its tournament top scorer Stephanie Taylor, who was ably assisted by exciting teen sensation Hayley Matthews, Deandra Dottin, Britany Cooper and others. And the similarities continue to emerge with the two-time T20 world Champions with that Dream Team.
Captain Darren Sammy had a media blitz from ESPN to CNN and BCC, throughout the tournament’s final few days, lamenting the perceived disrespect the team endured from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and that “short of brains” characterization from former England player Mark Nicholas, which he stated, ignited a fierce determination within the ranks to succeed.
Similar feelings of disrespect were felt by the Dream Team following decades of colonial rule of the islands and Guyana by Britain, which it was said, fueled the players desire to prove their worth on the field.
Self-belief was another factor touted by Sammy, whether instilled by him or solely by the new coaching team including former players Phil Simmons and Curtly Ambrose. Finals Man of the Match winner Samuels cast aside a run of poor form prior, to reserve his best performance for the team’s biggest game. Maybe it was the Jamaican confidence in him that has helped produce champions from the country like world great Bolt.
Four years after a match winning performance in the 2012 T20 final, Samuels brought his ‘A ‘game to the party again.
It’s a pity he is not more consistent when West Indies are not in finals games otherwise. Of course a Shane Warne critique of Samuels’ batting, which the Jamaican took offense to, which he stated helped spur his determination, at the presentation Sunday, was not offered during last year’s 50 overs World Cup and the equivalent 2012 T20 series. Also the lure of massive financial rewards on offer around the world from T20 World Cup success, were not in the making either.
And it should not be lost on anyone that the new champions in both categories this year, had extensive preparation, unheard of in previous years. The series of preparation games the men had in Dubai and the women in South Africa helped develop form and mental sharpness.
Credit is not a compliment thrown around loosely in West Indies cricket management, but in this case it is necessary to laud the awareness of those responsible whether it be the Director Richard Pybus or someone else. The 15-man squad selection was spot on too, more so for the men’s squad and the alacrity in which Simmons was summoned to India from Trinidad and Tobago as an injury replacement, to produce the semi-finals match winning innings.
It therefore was an over- reaction by Sammy, in an otherwise good thank you speech, to put down the Board before millions of television viewers at the trophy presentation on Sunday. It was an unprecedented act of militant behavior, fast becoming a trend by players on the team. Gayle did likewise, knocking the selectors on TV in South Africa not too long ago, as was Samuels’ reaction to Warne’s constructive critique of his batting in the semifinals against India.
Reserve your objections to team issues and other problems to Twitter, guys, like most celebrities do these days, even if WICB president Dave Cameron’s predictable reaction on the popular social media platform was another classless act.
A televised trophy presentation is not the medium to start fights, it could turn off sponsors which could eventually hurt the players themselves.
Meanwhile I’m off to get a copy of “D J” Bravo’s “Champion”.
