Beating a minnow

The West Indies have to be careful not to place too great an emphasis on their three-nil victory over Bangladesh in the recent One-Day International series played at St Vincent and Grenada, and see themselves as well on their way to the glory days of the 1970s and ’80s. For while the records will show that the West Indies were victorious, there still remains a great deal to be done if they are to be regarded once again as being anywhere near the top in international cricket. Indeed, the need to restructure our approach to Test and other international cricket remains.

The ODI victory may have given the team a needed psychological boost, but Bangladesh after all is a cricket minnow and unless the West Indies Cricket Board is prepared to formulate and implement strategies to improve the quality and resolve of our cricketers then Bangladesh and Zimbabwe may be the only teams we can look forward with confidence to beating. We wish to stress that what we have written should not be construed in any form as being dismissive of the captaincy of Ramnaresh Sarwan, yet despite the three-nil victory over Bangladesh there were too many glaring errors of judgment by certain members of the team. In turn, why was it necessary for each victory to have been that close? There are still too many short balls and wides being sent down by our bowlers, and along with no balls have seen an uncomfortable number of extras being handed to opposing teams. In turn, the style of batting, hitting out wildly at deliveries best left alone, and getting run out because of a clear lack of judgment are weaknesses in the West Indies’ approach to the crease that even the Bangladeshis were able to exploit.

The WICB and its planners have to avail themselves of the latest technology that would enable our batsmen and bowlers to study the weaknesses and strengths of not only opposing teams, but their own as well and be guided accordingly. As early as 1950, the English during the West Indies-England series in England were employing the use of videos to enable their batsmen to analyse the technique used by “mystery spin bowler,” Sonny Ramadhin. And they never let up until they determined how Ramadhin could have been neutralised. But that was 54 years ago. Why then are our batsmen and bowlers with all of the technology available still repeating errors which, with the required discipline, should have been readily remedied?

The troubling answer is that the style of playing of all too many of the cricketers, including needless shots and bowling that is neither penetrative nor controlled, should long ago have been corrected by the players not simply by respective coaches, but by their careful studying videos of their play. There is ample time for this between now and the three-nation One-Day International series in England scheduled for next month and, instructively, the Test series against Australia next year, for the West Indies to begin the process of being achievers all over again.