TEAM?STRATEGY?will be a key factor if the Dwayne Bravo-led West Indians are to repeat the achievement of Brian Lara’s 2004 side and win the ICC Champions Trophy in England.
Coach Ottis Gibson, who has plenty of experience of playing cricket in England and also served as bowler coach to the England side, hit the nail on the head when he said that adapting to the conditions would be crucial to West Indies’ chances in the eight-team tournament.
Grouped with two sub-continental sides, Pakistan and India, as well as South Africa, the Caribbean cricketers will need to win at least two matches to be assured of advancing from the group stage.
Successful cricket sides are usually those which are not afraid to move away from the script but are prepared to improvise and think outside of the box.
The batting order will be critical, especially an opening partner for the experienced Chris Gayle.
Yes, Johnson Charles scored two consecutive centuries in his last two One-Day Internationals (ODIs) against Australia and Zimbabwe but since then, he has looked like a novice, both in the Regional 50-over and 4-Day competitions and has been upstaged by the recalled Devon Smith in the same Windward Islands side.
But with the West Indies having to play both Pakistan and India, the off-spinners in these sides such as Saeed Ajmal and Mohammed Hafeez (Pakistan) and Ravi Ashwin (India) will be licking their fingers, whenever they see Smith at the crease.
With the West Indies playing Pakistan in their opening encounter on June 7, I definitely can’t see either Smith or Charles opening.
The selectors must seriously look at playing horses for courses and in this respect, they would need someone with the technique to cope with either pace or spin and more importantly the swinging ball in English conditions.
That brings me to the role which the experienced Ramnaresh Sarwan, who scored 120 not out opening the batting in his penultimate ODI against Zimbabwe, should play in the Champions Trophy. He has the best batting average among contemporary West Indian batsmen in ODIs.
Hence, Sarwan, who is blessed with a superior technique to either Smith or Charles, would be my pick to partner Gayle.
What should work in Sarwan’s favour is that he has been playing county cricket in England for the past two years for Leicestershire.
Just a few weeks short of his 33rd birthday, Sarwan has amassed 5 802 runs in 179 ODIs at a commendable average of 43.29 with five hundreds and 38 half-centuries.
Of the six West Indians who have scored more ODI runs than Sarwan, his strike rate of 75.69, is surprisingly better than Desmond Haynes (63.09), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (70.74) and Richie Richardson (63.74). Brian Lara, the leading West Indies batsman in both Tests and ODIs, scored his 10 348 runs in 295 ODIs at a strike rate of 79.62.
It is noteworthy that in 14 ODI matches in England, Sarwan has an average of 43.40 and a strike rate of 81.27. The highest of his four half-centuries is 89.
In 14 ODIs versus Pakistan, his average is 46.72 with five 50s and in 30 ODIs against India, he averages 61.66, scoring one century and 11 fifties. He also averages 39 in 18 ODIs versus South Africa, the other team in Group B.
Sarwan’s job would be to anchor the innings, while leaving Gayle, who averages 39.31 with one century and four 50s in 23 ODIs in England where his strike rate is just 68.03, to do the bulk of attacking.
That aside, captain Bravo will have his first real test as captain. Even though it was against minnows Zimbabwe, he would have gained some confidence from his stint as stand-in skipper when the West Indies completed a 3-0 sweep of the ODI series in the Caribbean earlier this year.
Bravo’s role with bat and ball will also be critical. Unknown to many, only Courtney Walsh (227 wickets in 205 ODIs), Curtly Ambrose (225 in 176 ODIs) and Carl Hooper (193 in 227 ODIs) among West Indians have taken more wickets than Bravo’s 160 in 137 ODIs.
The next two highest wicket-takers on the West Indies’ all-time list are the late Malcolm Marshall and Gayle, who have both taken 157 wickets in 136 and 239 ODIs respectively.
It should be noted that Gayle, who hardly trundles his flat off-spin these days, did not bowl in 59 of his ODIs. However, whereas Marshall sent down 7175 balls, Gayle delivered 6 979 balls, thus he had a slightly better strike rate (44.4) than Marshall (45.7).
But that is where the comparisons end as Marshall averaged 26.96 and had an economy rate of 3.53 runs per over whereas Gayle averages 35.31 and has yielded 4.73 runs an over.
In fact, off-spinner Sunil Narine, who has only played 28 ODIs and taken 47 wickets at an average of 21.68, is the only one from the current crop of West Indian bowlers with an economy rate of less than four runs an over. His is 3.87.
Despite having a good strike rate of 33.9, Bravo’s wickets have come at a fairly expensive economy rate of 5.32 and an average of 30.06.
Ravi Rampaul has taken 88 wickets in 73 ODIs at 29.92 while conceding 5.06 runs per over; Kemar Roach has 79 wickets in 51 ODIs at an average of 27.13 but his economy is exactly five runs an over, while Sammy has taken only 69 wickets in 92 ODIs at a cost of 42.44 runs for each success while giving up 4.61 runs an over. Tino Best has played just 20 ODIs and his 26 wickets have come at 33.03 runs apiece while he has gone for 5.15 runs an over.
Back-up off-spinner Marlon Samuels’ 74 wickets have been taken at an average of 43.97 and an economy of 4.71 while Kieron Pollard, another support bowler, has 39 wickets at 37.43 and an economy of 5.45.
Thus, wicket-taking, more so than containment, will be vital for the Windies.