West Indies cricketers did well but…

EDITOR: Now that we have been knocked out of the World Cup, we know that there would plenty discussions, criticism, and even judgement about the performance of the West Indies Cricket. Cricket we know many of us love and when West Indies win many are happy. On the other hand when West Indies lose, we are sad and sometimes angry.

In analysing, it is fair to say that as a unit they did not play the super eight to win. I know the management and team wanted to win the World Cup because that was their intention according to them, but they did not perform like champion. Of course, we must appreciate that in the T20 format any team can win, and likewise, the strongest team can lose. One over can make a difference, so making the right choice on the field is important. In test cricket or even a one day match a captain and players have more leeway to make amends.

On reflecting on World Cup 2024, it is true to say most of the batters were one innings performers. That is something the coach and team have to look at. There needs to be more consistency with the bat. The bowlers were not bad in most games,with the exception of few. We know the over by Shepherd contributed heavily to our loss to England. This loss set us back and had we won that game, we would not have been under such pressure for the last game, and it can also be said that in the last match, the over by Motie contributed heavily, along with the many dots balls. This has been a recurring problem which the team needs to work on.

In moving forward, we know that this team has shown improvement over the years and has brought us success. But these little areas of discipline- bowling, making the right choices by the captain, consistency in the batting, and being able to score singles even when the bowling is tight, is an art the batters have to develop.

In moving forward let us continue to rally around the West Indies for all is not lost. Let us hope that we would see an improved team performance that is consistent and have a match awareness as Roston Chase had and play intelligent cricket as Rutherford showed in the one game. All in all let us not have a ‘flash in the pan’ performance but a consistent one.

Rally round the West Indies now and forever more.

Kennard King