West Indies' tour of India (Feb 2022)

[wasteyouryouth]

They’ve won only two series against top 8 opposition in the last ten years and one of them was last year. That is frankly abysmal.

For all the talk about India’s outdated approach to ODIs, West Indies have both an outdated and flawed approach to ODIs. Their supposed accumulators in Bravo and Hope are just anchors/blockers who prefer boundaries and dot balls over constant strike rotation. Their hitters are too impatient for the likes of ODIs and throw away their wickets too soon chasing the glory shot on nearly every ball instead of taking calculated risks. And finally, they shoot themselves in the foot with their own terrible team selection frequently. Their spat with Hetty over his fitness is ridiculous given the leeway they’ve given to the likes of Gayle. And where is Lewis? He’s got five 50+ scores in their last ten ODIs, is he still recovering from COVID?

Gotta assume Lewis must be injured/recovering. He's easily their best ODI batter.

Big problem West Indies have is they just don't have the players. India could put out two teams (at least) and they'd be beat them. Same problem in Test cricket. You can't really build an approach if you don't have the players to pull it off. There's definitely talent, it's good to see how Alzarri Joseph has developed in ODI cricket after losing his place in the test side. Odean Smith is one of those players who you just want to watch. The bowling might just be enough to help them scrape through to the World Cup.

Could be they need to look at someone like Kyle Mayers. He did well in the T20s recently. They might be better off letting Pooran take over the ODI captaincy. Pollard's fitness seems patchy at best these days. He rarely seems to play an entire series.

 

[Verified Enigma]

What happened to the likes of Oshane Thomas and Sheldon Cottrell

 

[wasteyouryouth]

What happened to the likes of Oshane Thomas and Sheldon Cottrell

Cottrell is in the T20 squad. Thomas played before Christmas but hasn't played an ODI since Jan 2020.

 

[Verified Enigma]

Cottrell is in the T20 squad. Thomas played before Christmas but hasn't played an ODI since Jan 2020.

These guys had troubled Indian batters in ODIs if I recall properly. Cottrell was guns in CWC 19.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Smith, Joseph, Holder top 3 batters and top 3 bowlers.

Grim, really.

 

[Verified Enigma]

Smith, Joseph, Holder top 3 batters and top 3 bowlers.

Grim, really.

View attachment 263467

Had Pollard not been injured, nothing much, the table still would have looked the same anyway.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Honestly I am looking at the bowlers who are going to play for the West Indies as far as the current lot is concerned. And they've got some exciting prospects:-

Alzarri Joseph
Oshane Thomas
Jason Holder
Sheldon Cottrell (the age factor is something to look at but I think his fitness over the last 3-4 year have improved drastically)
Kemar Roach
Odean Smith
Hayden Walsh Junior
Jayden Seales
Akeal Hosein

I think these are pretty good potentials and I see no reason why they can't perform against weaker teams. Not just that, these bowlers could even put batting powerhouses like England, Australia, New Zealand, India, etc under enormous pressure. But the real problem is their batting and it's just obvious. My first impressions when I saw Brandon King in 2019 CPL was like he is a real gun player. But this series have given a sign that his ODI game is pretty weak and he doesn't belong to this level yet. Shai Hope was a massive disappointment in this series. And they just missed Hetmyer and Lewis big time!!

Perhaps @qpeedore can add something to this?

 

[Bevab]

Gotta assume Lewis must be injured/recovering. He's easily their best ODI batter.

Big problem West Indies have is they just don't have the players. India could put out two teams (at least) and they'd be beat them. Same problem in Test cricket. You can't really build an approach if you don't have the players to pull it off. There's definitely talent, it's good to see how Alzarri Joseph has developed in ODI cricket after losing his place in the test side. Odean Smith is one of those players who you just want to watch. The bowling might just be enough to help them scrape through to the World Cup.

Could be they need to look at someone like Kyle Mayers. He did well in the T20s recently. They might be better off letting Pooran take over the ODI captaincy. Pollard's fitness seems patchy at best these days. He rarely seems to play an entire series.

Pollard’s captaincy felt like a breath of fresh air at first but it has gotten stale now. I suppose they need to get in some of those U19 guys in sooner than later if things continue being dire (yeah I know they finished 11th in the WC but they’ve still got some promising talent there).

At the moment I’d just go with this lineup

Lewis
Hope
Hetty
Pooran
Pollard?/new middle order hitter
Holder
Allen/Walsh
Smith
Joseph
Hosein
McCoy

Hope needs to be taught how to rotate strike better and if Pollard is staying, he has to be told that his wicket is valuable and shouldn’t be wasted away. I’d promote Holder up in case of a collapse too. It’s a bit barebones but they’ve got some decent variety in pace and batting depth. If only they made smart use of that depth like England.

 

[Verified Enigma]

Hold on, we are missing Andre Russell

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Hold on, we are missing Andre Russell

He shows up for major tournaments, gets injured, then goes and plays a full season in a franchise league.

Pollard’s captaincy felt like a breath of fresh air at first but it has gotten stale now. I suppose they need to get in some of those U19 guys in sooner than later if things continue being dire (yeah I know they finished 11th in the WC but they’ve still got some promising talent there).

At the moment I’d just go with this lineup

Lewis
Hope
Hetty
Pooran
Pollard?/new middle order hitter
Holder
Allen/Walsh
Smith
Joseph
Hosein
McCoy

Hope needs to be taught how to rotate strike better and if Pollard is staying, he has to be told that his wicket is valuable and shouldn’t be wasted away. I’d promote Holder up in case of a collapse too. It’s a bit barebones but they’ve got some decent variety in pace and batting depth. If only they made smart use of that depth like England.

I doubt that XI would solve the problems. Strike rotation is an issue throughout the side. I think they need someone in at 3-6 to play a similar role to Hope. I guess that's why Darren Bravo keeps getting picked.

 

[icyman]

The West Indies just seem like a collaboration of stars who have gathered for a T20 tournament. As someone mentioned, Pollard's take on the team seemed ery different at first and a few even thought that the glory days of the Caribbean are back. However, his approach seems very stale at the moment and a large part of me syas that he seems disinterested in plying his trade for the Caribbean conglomerate of islands.

Nicholas Pooran seems more like a hit and miss/ Shahid Afridi kind of player. On a given day, he can turn up and destroy the opposition, but on many days he is simply a pale shadow of what he is capable of doing. Just like India's outdated approach in ODI, the WI tend to harp on the days of Darren Sammy twin WT20s. There doesnt seem to be an iota of strategy in the way they approach the game- its more like hit out or get out.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Why is KL not playing?

 

[icyman]

KL isnt a part of the T20 squad. Dunno why, might be injured.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

The West Indies just seem like a collaboration of stars who have gathered for a T20 tournament. As someone mentioned, Pollard's take on the team seemed ery different at first and a few even thought that the glory days of the Caribbean are back. However, his approach seems very stale at the moment and a large part of me syas that he seems disinterested in plying his trade for the Caribbean conglomerate of islands.

Nicholas Pooran seems more like a hit and miss/ Shahid Afridi kind of player. On a given day, he can turn up and destroy the opposition, but on many days he is simply a pale shadow of what he is capable of doing. Just like India's outdated approach in ODI, the WI tend to harp on the days of Darren Sammy twin WT20s. There doesnt seem to be an iota of strategy in the way they approach the game- its more like hit out or get out.

I'd have made Pooran captain after the T20 World Cup, he seems like a better long term option. Perhaps he will after the next T20 or ODI World Cup.

West Indies problem is most teams have six hitters now, but most teams also rotate and run singles. So, there are times when West Indies can blow teams away but in close matches they are likely to lose out because of high dot balls when batting.

KL isnt a part of the T20 squad. Dunno why, might be injured.

I seem to remember reading he's being rested.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Teams should just play five leg spinners against the West Indies, they'd get bowled out for about 50 every time.