Convincing victories to ease the tension

Whether we like the T20 game or not, the joy of winning the Caribbean tournament is everything that this country will need to keep us in touch with more success in sport. Although I am not a great lover of the swiping game, I concede that it is exciting as far as the fans are concerned and financially beneficial to players. There is no doubt that our national teams are the targets for the rest of countries in the region and what is most interesting this time around, both Barbados and Jamaica are usually the teams who challenge for Caribbean supremacy. This brings us to yet another world Club championship T20 competition, an experience which we enjoyed on two previous occasions. Our first entry to the IPL saw us reaching with a whisker of the title while our second attempt saw us out of the final four teams. It simply means that the gap which needs to be closed must be addressed well in advance of this year’s trip to India. It will be unrealistic for the experts to be so taken up with the team’s final position, that they will fail to make an assessment on the general performances of the players in order to correct areas of deficiency and pay greater attention to methods of closing the gap between the Caribbean and the international T20 arena. Taking the strength of our bowling first, it is clear that in Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Dwayne Bravo, Kevin Cooper and Samuel Badree could reduce even the best opponents to scores which can offer our batsmen chances to win matches.

 

Having said that, the coaches will surely need to ensure that the line and length consistency of Bravo and Rampaul in this tournament must be revisited, especially against opponents like David Warner, Jacque Kallis, AB De Villiers, Ravendra Sehwag, Dilshan and others, who are unforgiving when they are served loose deliveries. Even at this level, our bowlers were made to pay for any deliveries which were served up short and wide. Admittedly, Cooper, Narine, and Badree were not quite as guilty, and their variation of spin and deceptive change of pace proved very successful. The fielding of the team was probably better than it has been for many a year and getting runs easily is not on the cards for opposing teams. Nevertheless, our batting continues to be the problem area, where the fundamental qualities of good strokeplay which are often seen from players like Simmons, Bharath, and Darren Bravo in the longer types of matches, have been seen to be utilised inappropriately far too often. Coach Williams and his staff must bring a better level of information to these young and probably inexperienced players. Since the early days of T20, I have looked at a number of talented youngsters who had shown exciting potential through their batsmanship, leaving us all with optimism regarding their future in the Test match arena.

 

Whoever saw the likes of Perkins, Bharath, Dwayne Bravo, and Denish Ramdin to name a few, five years ago, would have vouched for an expansion of class batsmen after a few years of experience. Unfortunately, Perkins lost his way terribly because he felt that hitting every ball either towards the boundary or well over the rope was his main mission. By now, he would have found out that batting at any level calls for application to conditions, pace of the wickets, strategy of the bowlers, and ignoring high risk shots before he has gets the feel of the above. The present state of his batting does not keep him in the national team regularly in any type of game. The coaches must ensure that both Bharath and Lendl Simmons do not fall into that trap. It is really distasteful to see dismissals like premeditating sweep shots, attempted within the first two overs at good deliveries before knowing the extent of spin, the bounce of the pitch. To see Simmons bowled when trying to play an attacking shot with both feet placed well outside of his leg stump and the ball striking the base of his off stump is a miserable sight. Darren Bravo, failing to use his feet while opening the face of the bat against a new ball in his first over and losing his wicket, is a practice that should be addressed by the coaching staff. It’s not that these youngsters cannot bat. Actually, it is the opposite. But the fundamentals of the art form must be respected in order to retain their occupancy at the crease and ply their trade. There is too much talent among these young batsmen and the onus must be on the technical staff to ensure that they become the key figures through which West Indies cricket could return to the top.

 

The multi- talented Dwayne Bravo, my opinion of any athletic genius, who can probably play any ball game if he put his mind to it, has been going through the process over the past two years and it appears as though he is coming to terms with adjustment in his technique with the bat. As powerful as Kieron Pollard can strike the ball, he should be credited for taking the advice which has been offered by experts like Sunil Gavaskar and a few others regarding his inconsistency. It was great to see him playing himself in before starting his heavy slugfest and subsequently, staying at the crease longer and getting good scores. His fielding is simply magnificent. Our national team is ready to rumble. Dinesh Ramdin seems very much at home with leading the squad and his players are seemingly blossoming together. If all goes well, I believe that Sunil Narine will be the name on the lips of everyone by year end. This deceptive spinner has the temperament to take the fight to any type of batsmen and I suspect that he will gain the respect of all the great ones after they face him. Congratulations on a job well done! The four-day-game is different; please treat it skillfully and with sensible application.