It cannot be all Darren Sammy’s fault.
For some time now, West Indies cricket has been a big letdown; from the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) administration of the game, the selection of players and the performance of the team.
These have all left me feeling nothing but disappointment, anger, frustration and a sense of hopelessness.
All these emotions came back with the performance of the team during the hastily organized Test series against India, which might more be remembered as the farewell send-off for Sachin Tendulkar than for the cricketing exploits of the West Indies players.
Once again, as in most cases when the West Indies lose, the reason for the team’s poor performance is placed on the shoulders of their captain, and in this case Darren Sammy. It was felt that he failed in his role both as captain and as a player.
There has always been the popular belief that he should not have even been included in the West Indies team. However, Sammy’s failure surely cannot be the only reason for the team’s poor performance in India.
As I tried to take an objective look at the areas I considered to have negatively affected the team, since there are really only a few positives to be drawn from the Test series, the following are what I consider to have been most impactful to the outcome:-
• The batsmen collectively did not score enough runs.
• The bowlers collectively were not able to restrict the Indian batsmen as they did not bowl well enough.
• The team got bowled out in both Tests on the first day.
• The Decision Review System (DRS) was not used.
• The top-line batsmen would have had to score big, with Denesh Ramdin batting at No. 6, followed by Sammy, Best and so on, for the team to have had a chance.
When the West Indies last played a Test match, albeit against opponents lower than them in the International Cricket Council rankings, they had shown some improvement was possible.
Now eight months and a barrage of T20 cricket later, some of the batsmen look incapable of playing a defensive shot.
To compound the sad state of the team’s performance, Shane Shillingford, who captured 11 wickets from the two innings the Indians batted, was reported for a suspect bowling action.
I must say that I, too, had some concerns about his action, which had been called into question earlier in his career. I think, however, that this last report was as a result of his being overbowled – as he tired his action got worse.
Marlon Samuels, who was also reported for a suspect action, has never bowled, as far as I’m concerned.
The poor performance of the team in India was as a result of more than just Sammy’s captaincy. It seems evident that selectors have been using the performance of the players in T20 cricket to select the Test team.
For sure, had they used the performances of players on the A Team tour and that of the regional four-day competition, the composition of the team would have looked quite different from what we had.
The players did not appear to be confident enough to give consistently good performances and most can be classified as “flash in the pan cricketers”; here today and gone tomorrow.
• Mike Worrell is a former Barbados and West Indies B?team wicketkeeper/batsman.
