“Untimely shot decisions seem to be a strong part of the culture of our senior team’s T20 batting,” says the president of the CWI.
Cricket West Indies President Ricky Skerritt
Ricky Skerritt, the president of Cricket West Indies, has vowed a “thorough autopsy” in response to his harsh criticism of the team’s performance in the 2022 T20 World Cup, in which they were eliminated in the group stage.
Skerritt laid the blame squarely at the feet of West Indies’ batters in a statement that was published on CWI’s website and Twitter.
He said that the batters’ poor shot selection and failure against spin was a key factor in the two-time defending champions being eliminated in the first round of the tournament in Australia.
After winning two out of their three first-round matches, each of Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, Zimbabwe, and Ireland progressed to the Super 12s. On Friday, Ireland’s victory against the West Indies by nine wickets was the deciding factor in their advancement.
Skerritt added, “I am profoundly unhappy with the performance results of our team in Australia, and I comprehend the sense of complete anger that is being experienced by many,” and also claimed that he understood the displeasure that many were feeling.
“The persistent failure of our batters to triumph against opponent slow bowling remained to be a clear weakness in Australia,” the author writes. “Untimely shot choices appear to be firmly established in the culture of our senior team’s Twenty20 batting,” the author continues.
Since their victory in the T20 World Cup final in India in 2016, the West Indies have competed in four more tournaments, playing a total of eight matches.
In the first game of this tournament, they faced Scotland and were bowled out for 118 while chasing 161 runs.
In Confrontation with Zimbabwe
In their second game, they faced Zimbabwe and were able to defend a score of 153 for 7, courtesy of the bowling performances of Alzarri Joseph (4 for 16) and Jason Holder (3 for 12).
On Friday, though, Ireland comfortably overcame their previous score of 146 for 5 to breeze into the next round. Through the middle overs of all three of their matches, the West Indies had a discernible amount of trouble countering spin.
The one bright point of the West Indies innings against Ireland was an unbeaten 62 runs scored by Brandon King off 48 balls.
This came after the West Indies inched their way to 41 for 2 in the powerplay, striking just five fours and one six during that period. In contrast, Ireland’s first six overs of their chase had six fours, four sixes, and four fours and sixes combined.
Johnson Charles, who was batting in place of King, who was sick at the time, was the top scorer for West Indies against Zimbabwe with 45 runs off of 36 balls.
However, only four West Indies batters reached double figures against Scotland, which was a performance that coach Phil Simmons described as “unprofessional.”
Skerritt continued by saying that he was resolved to find a solution to West Indies’ slump, which had been occurring recently.
Finishing Line
“I want to assure stakeholders that a thorough postmortem will be carried out on all aspects of our World Cup preparation and performance and that solutions will be found in keeping with CWI’s strategy to improve the quality and sustainability of cricket on all fronts.
And in all formats,” you can quote me as saying. “I want to assure stakeholders that a thorough postmortem will be carried out on all aspects of our World Cup preparation and performance.”
Cricket in the West Indies is about much more than any one person or event, and it continues to need the participation and support of all of its stakeholders.