Good recovery for the Windies – let’s not lose focus

Congratulations to the much-beleaguered West Indies cricket team, which, following the humiliation of failing to qualify for October’s World Cup in India, gained its first series victory in seven years over India last Sunday in Florida.

The impressive eight-wicket victory enabled the Windies to take a 3-2 win in the five-match T20 International series. It must be very heartening for white ball team manager Darren Sammy, skipper Rovman Powell and the rest of the team which has been heavily criticized, not without merit for its inconsistencies. There will be a lot of encouragement from this victory, considering that India is one of the leading teams in the world.

At the same time, it is vital that the team itself, West Indies coaching staff and administrators, and both our media and sporting public, do not lose sight of reality and repeat the mistakes of the past. Our tendency when victorious is to overlook our shortcomings and behave as though we are on top of the world. We have made those mistakes before and paid dearly.

There are still serious flaws in our cricket which need to be ironed out if we are to rise again globally, flaws which exist at all levels. We need to pay attention to these whilst congratulating our players.