Dear Editor,
For me, what was illustrative of the worst aspect of West Indies cricket in the third one-day international against Bangladesh might surprise many fans and even cricket experts. It happened when Shimron Hetmeyer came to the wicket. Anyone who follows cricket closely should know that most left-handers have trouble with off-spin. Anyone who followed this series closely would have known that Hasan got Hetmeyer out with remarkable regularity and that he had already got out the two lefthanders, Hemraj and Bravo .When Hetty got to the wicket, Shai Hope, the only West Indian batsman with the skill and particularly the confidence, to stand up to the Bangladeshi bowling, was set, and Hasan had almost finished his bowling quota. I had actually, partly in jest, sent a letter headed “winning rules” to the board, one of which was for the right-hander batting with a left-hander to do his best to keep the lefty away from the offspinner. Hope casually took a single. I could see the disaster that was approaching. It took one or two balls for our most dangerous batsman to perish.
Tell me how the board contrived to have a youngster just beginning to learn his craft with all kinds of gaps in his skills, who therefore is not an automatic selection in an eleven, be captain? Is it because he is a university man? Was that the reason the young and dangerous quick Oshane Thomas who took the most wickets in the last game, or the third most talented young batsman Sunil Ambris, could not be accommodated for even one game. I hope we are going to have a real head coach months (not weeks) before the Word Cup. Part of the problem is the board, as currently constituted, does not believe coaching and mental preparation are important.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
