I WATCHED IN AMAZEMENT the body language of the West Indies players in the Cricket World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand in Wellington on Friday.
A quarter-final, I thought, would motivate the weakest of underdogs. I changed my channel to ESPN 308 at 11:04 p.m. only to see one of the most pathetic displays by a West Indies team. The fielding was so lethargic and sluggish I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There was no urgency, or intensity in terms of that hunger to win.
What really bothered me was to see my favourite cricketer, Marlon Samuels, drop the simplest of catches. I just love the dirt that this man walks on. He is a touch player; he is class, but his wretched fielding provoked me to bellow out my disgust.
Samuels was so laid-back. I watched him bowling and fielding. At times he was crawling like a snail to his fielding position. When he was bowling, he approached the stumps to deliver as if he was uncertain what and how to bowl. It seemed as though his sluggish behaviour resonated like a tidal wave right through the whole team.
[Martin] Guptill galloped, Guptill walloped, Guptill made a mockery of a spineless Windies! I turned off my TV at the closure of New Zealand’s innings and went to bed, because I knew the outcome.
Look! A fundamental of life is like this: if God sees you are working hard and have this passion to win, he will reward you. God cannot work through a stiff-necked people whose only medicine is to create disunity.
Another matter that boggles the mind is to observe captain Jason Holder fielding at deep mid-on; so distant from the circle of dialogue and discourse with the former captains in the team. What does it say about playing as a together unit? It speaks volumes.
Do you see a musical conductor? He is at the centre of his band of musicians directing them and that is where Holder should be; he should be as near as possible to the wicket directing his troops, interacting with them with intense dialogue.
No doubt New Zealand won because the Windies did not have the “fire in their bellies” to win. To be honest, on any given day the West Indies can beat the best of them but little things tend to upset them and the team just shut down.
The West Indies need a durable opening pair like Greenidge and Haynes in One-Day Internationals. I like what I see in Kraigg Brathwaite. He likes to occupy the crease. As he gets older he will get stronger and score faster.
They need to scout for fast bowlers who can maintain their line and length even under extreme pressure, and they need to invest in bowlers who have perfected the art of bowling deceptive “slower balls.”
– WAYNE COLLYMORE-TAYLOR