West Indies Ignite T20; Spontaneously Come-Bust!

By Sreelata S. Yellamrazu

Count on the West Indies to initiate the art of swashbuckling into a terrain that would make novices of veterans. Yet it would seem they do not know their own strengths and their entire body language lacks conviction. Their demise within three days of the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup is as much an upset as Australia being made to eat humble pie for dinner in their first outing!

Is it a mere coincidence that once again a World Cup lung opener in South Africa involves a duel between the West Indies and the hosts? West Indies threatened to do to South Africa what they did in 2003. But hold on. Somewhere there seemed an element of doubt, a slack in momentum but it was all that was needed for South Africa to come through the flames unscathed. In the end, it all seemed a breeze. Shouldn’t South Africa buy their counterparts a round of beers for their efforts? Not only did the West Indies undo the hard work for the first session, they went through the entire length to entirely humiliate themselves, even alienate themselves from being taken seriously, especially when they looked good for the taking.

It is always a sad affair listening to a disappointed Tony Cozier. It felt worse still for the West Indian commentators, who could do little but surmise with the rest of lot of the dismal antics of their home team. Having played and carried the pride of the nation on their shoulders, they seemed weighed heavier still to watch the present state of affairs. (A warning to Australia to never let their guard down. The fall from the perch is not only hard on the bones; it is heavier on the heart for those that carry the feelings of the nation long after they have served their duty.)

Tony Cozier could not have been more apt when he spoke of how West Indies showed the world how to play the game in the first half and how not to play in the session after the break. And that was all that there was to the West Indies on the inaugural night. Last time round, South Africa bowed out of the World Cup on the face of an onslaught from the struggling West Indies. The status for the West Indies did not change neither did the context in which they batted. But the result would not have been to any one’s liking, even neutrals watching the game.

It was not the defeat but rather the manner of defeat that was jaw dropping. Where Chris Gayle’s whirlwind innings, a record by the way for Twenty20 (what a start!), should have elevated the team, the errors in the field rose astoundingly and the bowling was a shamble. Not a few months ago, West Indies shared the two match Twenty20 series with England in England. But on this day, they played like they have never played cricket before!

Many hailed Gayle’s inspired captaincy for the turnaround of fortunes in England at the fag end of the tour. Gayle’s innings should have furthered that impetus. But with captaincy resting now with the recovered Ramnaresh Sarwan, perhaps all is not well after all. Gayle looked visibly perplexed by how the second session shaped up.

The only reason no one raised a whisper about match fixing is because (and this is a sad observation) that the West Indian ability to self-destruct is something the world is getting accustomed to. Having said that, it still seemed hard to fathom how any team could go so low as to actually concede a match after setting a terrific target to chase. The slipping bit is difficult to comprehend; however, that once the slide starts, the road can get awfully slippery as the West Indian found out to their disdain.

What hurt the West Indies can be capped off in three points: they lost the momentum after Gayle was dismissed; they dropped key catches; and they bowled with far too much indiscipline that cricket (and a punishing game like Twenty20) can tolerate.

While Gayle was in full throttle, no one could stop the force that seemed to be thriving on South Africa’s seemingly one paced attack. But with his dismissal, West Indies could not sustain a third of their momentum up to that point. They lost their way on the road to making history in Twenty20 in setting a mind boggling target. While the eventual target was still telling, they had lost the momentum and the drive and simply failed to finish on a high.

The point is: more matches have been won by teams that have finished on a flourish than those that have painstakingly gained momentum only to fizzle along the way. Initiative one handed back to the hosts! More importantly, a fair bit of fragrance of hope was sent along with the parcel.

There are times when even the most fanatical fan will empathize with the drop of a difficult catch. However, West Indies dropped sitters, well, sitters at this level any way. It was shocking to say it mildly that teams come to this level and yet players, even good players with established reputations, succumb at the first sign of pressure. How costly did these lapses prove? Herschelle Gibbs and Justin Kemp took South Africa home, against a daunting challenge. That was conceding what the West Indies could ill afford!

Twenty-seven wides may seem negligible. But besides those twenty-seven runs (a decent innings had it been scored by a batsman in a Twenty20 match), it was the down pour of rains that followed in consequence of West Indies having to bowl twenty-seven additional deliveries that sealed their fate. Scathing as it may seem to dissect a team for its obvious defects, innumerable are the times when teams have lost not because of another team’s flamboyance but for want of doing the simple things right, things they train repeatedly for and one that memory should make second nature to the player’s repertoire of skills.

And don’t forget the other factor. South Africa were in trouble straight away. West Indies must have had a cold because they did not smell blood. Guts were all that skipper Graeme Smith was willing to reveal. Grimacing with pain, he played with intuition and he played a strategic game. No drives, a slog at the slighted hint. Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards should have been fired up and enticed to inflict a few more blows. Instead the team turned blind, to add to their misery and to the opportunities that literally fell in their lap. Gibbs hobbled, Smith groaned. Yet South Africa rode home on a high! If it were a mathematical equation, that should never have happened!

It was not surprising to watch the West Indies go down to Bangladesh. Nothing surprising there. If an outstanding innings by one of their team members (correct that: not just one of their team members but a recent leader who led them to a famous and inspirational victory) fail to inspire the West Indies to lift their game and their convictions, nothing will!