Carl Hooper, the former West Indies captain and Guyana all-rounder has called for changes to be made at the highest administrative levels of Caribbean cricket. Hooper’s call was made in reaction to the West Indies having been bowled out by Australia for 77, half an hour before the dinner break on the fourth day in the day and night second Test played at the Adelaide Oval.
The 419-run loss was the largest margin of defeat ever recorded by the West Indies in its now 95-year history of playing Test cricket.
As appropriate as it may be, Hooper’s call is however merely the latest addition to the ever-increasing number of voices that have been advocating the implementation of such changes. The rather unfortunate reality is, however, that Cricket West Indies (CWI) current President Ricky Skerritt and his Vice President Kishore Shallow are both scheduled to remain in office until next March’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). It will, therefore, more than likely be business as usual until then.
In the interim, the West Indies Test team will be engaged in two consecutive two-match series. The first on tour to Zimbabwe in January, followed by a visit to South Africa weeks later at the tail end of February. While any changes in the administration of West Indies cricket may not be immediately forthcoming, there should now at least be a major shakeup in the team’s composition for the upcoming Zimbabwe and South African tours.
The West Indies’ batting and bowling were both exposed as woefully inadequate when matched against their world-number-one ranked Australian rivals. The West Indies batsmen failed to reach 350 in any of the four innings they batted during the Series. The bowlers had an even more torrid time, managing to capture only 19 of the 40 Australian wickets that were available during the two Tests. Australia posted scores were 598 for four and 182 for two in the first Test and 511 for seven and 199 for six in the second.
Facing South Africa’s vaunted bowling attack on their home pitches will likely be just as formidable a task for the West Indies batsmen who were found wanting against both top-class pace and spin in Australia. Doing the same thing with the expectation of different results being the accepted definition of insanity it would, therefore, make very little sense for the West Indies to take the same bunch of obviously inadequate top-order batsmen to either Zimbabwe or South Africa.
The exception to that now palpably obvious need for the West Indies top-order batting to be rebuilt is of course the opening pair of Captain Kraigg Brathwaite and his newfound partner Tagenarine Chanderpaul, son of the legendary great former Guyanese and West Indies batsman Shivnarine. Young Tagenarie was the find of the series for the West Indies, impressing everyone who witnessed his crease appearances with his solid technique, resiliency and stoke play.
Brathwaite and Chanderpaul have shown themselves to be a pair capable of consistently providing the West Indies innings with solid and sizeable opening partnerships. The West Indies’ batting vulnerability, however, begins immediately thereafter at numbers three, four and five. Nkrumah Boner, Shamarh Brooks, Jermaine Blackwood and Kyle Mayers have now all had sufficient opportunities to prove their worth, but when confronted by the very best of highly disciplined pace or spin bowling they have each been found wanting.
Bonner showed his vulnerability to short-pitched bowling being hit on the head and left with a concussion during the West Indies’ first innings of the opening Test and took no further part in the Series. Brooks his replacement had scores of 33, 11, 8 and 0 for a Series aggregate of 52 runs from four innings batted, for an average of 13.00.
Blackwood, the team’s vice-captain was only marginally better, squandering useful starts of 36 and 24 in the first and second innings of the opening Test before failing abjectly with scores of 3 and 0 in the second.
Kyle Mayers, batting at number five could only manage 1 and 10 in the first Test, his technical deficiencies against both top-class pace and spin glaringly exposed for all the world to see. Mayers’ bowling which in recent times has been touted as his saving grace and justification for the continued retention of his place in the team, produced returns of one wicket for 39 runs from 15 overs in the first Test. Almost a direct reflection of his overall bowling returns in the Tests he has played to date.
Aged 30, Mayers has so far played 14 Tests for the West Indies capturing 27 wickets at an average of 18.25. While his sub-20 average can rightfully be deemed as impressive, his productivity in terms of wickets captured is far less so. A total of 27 wickets taken in 18 matches played is just one per match. Totally inadequate when viewed against the reality of the 20 opposition wickets needing to be captured for any team to win a Test match. Mayers’ tenure on the team was also effectively undermined by Devon Thomas during the second Test of the just-concluded Aussie series. Although he only had meagre scores of 19 and 12 in his two crease appearances, Thomas batted relatively long in both innings facing 37 balls in the first and hanging on resolutely through 56 deliveries in the second. In both innings, he demonstrated a solid technique that was much better than anything Mayers has ever displayed when facing top class bowling.
Close behind Tage Chanderpaul’s wonderful batting, as the second most welcoming revelation of the Series for the West Indies was Thomas’ bowling. Selected to the squad as the backup wicket-keeper, Thomas came to the fore during the second Test with his previously unheard-of medium-pace bowling. Clocking speeds that were at times most impressively more than 130km, Thomas had figures of two for 53 runs from 14 overs in Australia’s first innings and none for 13 runs off two overs in their second.
Thomas’ discovered medium-pace along with Alzarri Joseph’s sporadic hostility, were the only bright spots in the West Indies bowling during the Series. The attack spearhead Kemar Roach having broken down yet again during the first Test failed to recover in time for the second. His replacement Marquino Mindley, who had been flown into Australia from the Caribbean arriving just two days before the Test, lasted only that many overs before he too pulled up with a hamstring injury early in the Aussie’s first innings. Leaving the West Indies with an even further depleted bowling unit.
Jason Holder and Anderson Phillip were both wayward in their respective lines and lengths and rarely looked likely to take a wicket. The Head Selector Desmond Haynes’ experiment of using Roston Chase as a front-line spinner failed miserably in both Tests. Chase’s series returns were three wickets for 13 runs from 71 overs.
The forthcoming two Tests Zimbabwe series will provide the West Indies with a valuable opportunity to try out some changed personnel in both the batting and bowling departments. Brandon King, Shimron Hetmeyer and Shai Hope should be brought in as replacements for Bonner, Brooks, Blackwood and Mayers, while Thomas should be allowed a second chance to demonstrate his worthiness as a batsman who bowls. King, Hetmeyer and Hope’s respective places can be justified by the reality that of all those immediately available from the sadly bare cupboard of batting resources they are the most technically sound.
In terms of the bowling, both Holder and Roach should be rested for the Zimbabwe series. Holder needs to get back into the nets spending some time hitting lots of balls to regain his batting form, while similarly rediscovering the optimum lines and lengths that had made him the world class bowler he used to be but hasn’t been of late.
Keemo Paul and Gudakesh Motie should be the replacements for the bowling unit which will hopefully also be boosted by the inclusion of the injury-recovered Jayden Seales. Paul has shown the ability to bowl at speeds more than 140km, while Motie deserves a chance at an extended run after this debut Test earlier this year.
The remaining four spots on the expected 15-member touring squad should be filled by a third opener, a middle-order batsman, a bowling all-rounder and a fourth frontline seamer. The primary criteria for the respective selections being that the candidates should all be still young, aged not above 30, worthy prospects with potentially promising careers that can become fulfilled in the immediate future. Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Dominic Drakes and Ramon Simmonds are among those who should be considered for the respective positions.
A practical rebuild for the 2023 New Year and beyond. Hopefully further strengthening what’s good by eliminating and replacing what’s clearly unacceptably bad!
Guyana-born, Toronto-based, Tony McWatt is the Publisher of both the WI Wickets and Wickets/monthly online cricket magazines that are respectively targeted toward 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.
