Embarrassingly pathetic is perhaps the most appropriate description that should be given to the West Indies batting display in their ICC 2021 T20 World Cup opening match against England yesterday. Sent in to bat after losing the toss, the West Indies absolutely crumbled to be 55 all out in 14.2 overs. Set 56 to win in 20 overs, England reached its target with relative ease to secure the win by six wickets in 8.2 overs.
There was no room made for Roston Chase in the West Indies’ chosen final XI.
This despite his having scored a composed 58 ball 54 not out in the West Indies’ second and final warmup match which had preceded the England encounter.
Chris Gayle batting at number three was the West Indies’ top scorer with 13. He was also the only batsman to reach double figures. There were 58 dot balls among the 86 deliveries faced by the West Indies batsmen whose approach to the innings was characterized by brainless shot selections throughout.
Lewis, Simmons, Hetmeyer, and Gayle were all guilty of attempting ill-advised boundary shots to the larger side of the ground. Bravo, promoted to number five in an attempt to stabilize the innings, struck Jordan through point for four but was caught attempting to repeat the same shot from the very next delivery. Pooran slashing at a wide delivery from Mills, at a time when a far more conservative, rebuilding, approach to the innings was needed, was caught behind having made just one.
Following the top order collapse, the now well-known fragilities of the West Indies batting against top-class spin bowling was then embarrassingly displayed by Adil Rashid. The England leg-spinner carved through the West Indies lower order to finish with the remarkable figures of 4/2 off 2.2 overs. Rashid’s victims included Andre Russell, bowled through the gap between bat and pad that was left by his abject failure to read the front of hand slider delivered to him.
England lost four wickets in the chase including that of Liam Livingstone who was magnificently caught and bowled by the diving Akheal Hosein, the Trinidadian leg spinner’s second wicket of the innings. The match result was never in doubt, however, as England duly reached its target after only 8.2 overs.
Hosein, who was originally named as a traveling reserve, had been drafted into the West Indies 15 member squad following the forced withdrawal of Fabian Allen through injury. Another exciting young left-arm spinner, Guyana’s Gudakesh Motie, was then subsequently called up by the West Indies selectors to take Hosein’s vacated place among the squad’s reserves.
Allen was ruled out of the tournament due to an unhealed right ankle injury which he sustained during the recently concluded IPL. His forced withdrawal is indisputably a major blow to the West Indies’ chances of retaining its title as T20 World Cup Champions. Allen’s explosive batting, productive bowling, energetic fielding and outstanding catching will all now sorely be missed by the West Indies
The West Indies’ abject T20 World Cup opening match performance may well have been predicted following its ignominious defeats in both of its respective Official Warm-up matches against Pakistan and Afghanistan. The defending ICC T20 World Cup champions’ 2021 campaign got underway with an October 18 Warm-up encounter against Pakistan, which the men in green won most easily against their maroon clad opponents,
In allowing most of their team’s front-line batters to get a hit, West Indies posted 130-7 in their allotted 20 overs. Shimron Hetmyer 28 (24 balls,3×4) top-scored, while captain Kieran Pollard hit 23 off 10 balls which included five boundaries in the final over off Haris Rauf, That total proved to be wholly inadequate, however, as Pakistan fuelled by skipper Babar Azam’s composed 50(41) and Fakhar Zaman’s 24 ball 46 wrapped up the win in the 16th over.
Experienced fast bowler Ravi Rampaul, playing in his first match for the West Indies since November, 2015, had figures of 3-0-19-1. Rampaul along with leg spinner Hayden Walsh Jnr (3.3-0-41-2) were the West Indies’ only wicket-takers as Pakistan strolled to its very comfortable victory. And even more lacklustre batting display resulted in the West Indies’ also losing its October 20 second and final warm-up match against Afghanistan. Batting first Afghanistan eventually reached 189-5 on the back off a blistering opening partnership by Hazratullah Zazai (56) and Mohammad Shahzad (54) who blazed to 62-0 in just the first six overs. Some fairly solid some solid death overs bowling from left-arm pacer Obed McCoy and seamer Andre Russell, who collectively picked up three wickets, however, subsequently restricted Afghanistan’s to 189-5 at the end of the 20th over.
Chasing at 190 for victory the West Indies only managed to reach 133-5 off their 20 overs. The West Indies’ top-order batsmen had absolutely no answer to the wiles of Afghanistan’s off-spinner Mohammad Nabi who registered figures of four overs, two maidens, three wickets for two runs.
Nabi sliced the West Indies’ top order like a hot knife through butter, easily dismissing Evan Lewis, Shimron Hetmeyer, and Lendl Simmons in a manner that made all three look far more like amateur schoolboys than the seasoned professionals they are supposed to be. Nabi’s top order demolition restricted the West Indies to 50-3 after 10 overs, and played a key role in their eventual inability to make any real progress towards reaching the 190 victory target set by Afghanistan.
Chase, however, stood tall for the West Indies with an unbeatable half-century, scoring 54 not out off 58 balls with six boundaries and a six in his team’s 133-5/20 overs reply. He shared a 70 run fourth-wicket partnership with vice-captain Nicholas Pooran who’s 35 off 26 balls, included four fours and a six.
Having faltered miserably in its opening encounter against England, the West Indies will hope to get its T20 World Cup campaign back on track with victories from its remaining Group A first round matches. The West Indies will next face South Africa on Tuesday in Dubai, Sri Lanka on October 29 in Sharjah, Bangladesh on November 4 in Abu Dhabi and Australia on November 6 in Abu Dhabi. The tournament’s semi-finals, featuring the top two teams from Groups A & B will be played on November 10 and 11 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively, leading to the Dubai-hosted. November 14 final.
Like all other West Indies’ supporters, we will now wait with bated breaths to witness the outcomes of the West Indies’ remaining matches. Hopefully the performances, especially from the batsmen, will be much improved from the embarrassingly pathetic display that was on offer during their opening match.
About the writers:
Guyana-born, Toronto-based, Tony McWatt now serves as Cricket Canada’s Media Relations Manager. He is the Publisher of both the WI Wickets and Wickets monthly online cricket magazines that are respectively targeted towards Caribbean and Canadian readers. He is also the only son of the former Guyana and West Indies wicket-keeper batsman the late Clifford “Baby Boy” McWatt.
Guyana-born `Reds’ (Perreira) has served as a world-recognized West Indies Cricket Commentator for well over fifty years. `Reds’ made his broadcasting debut during the 1971 West Indies-India Test Series, and has commentated on hundreds of matches since then.
