From June 2012 to August 2016, the West Indies team won 25 of their 33 T20 internationals. This included the two WT20 title triumphs of 2012 and 2016, one semifinal appearance in 2014 and 14 wins out of 17 matches across various bilateral series. Led by the tactical maestro Darren Sammy, that team looked invincible at one point and could easily be compared to some of the mightiest in cricket history.
However, it hasn’t exactly been a fairytale since. From the beginning of 2018 to the end of South Africa tour, West Indies have lost 11 out of their 15 bilateral T20 international series. Where did it all go wrong?
Talking about the bowlers is a good start. Granted, they’re not the first thing that comes to mind when talking about West Indies’ glory days in the T20s. One express fast bowler to lead the new ball attack, an attacking and a defensive spinner and the plethora of all-rounders they had at their disposal.
The first big blow for the team came in 2014 when Sunil Narine’s bowling action was suspended. The then no 2 ranked mystery spinner was widely considered the most dangerous spinner in the shortest format.
The fact that West Indies still managed to be a threat in T20s after this, shows the prowess of Darren Sammy’s most underrated weapon, Samuel Badree. Badree stepped up and performed as the lone spinner. When an elbow and shoulder injury sidelined the leg spinner for an indefinite period of time in 2017, the final straw had been drawn.
Age caught up to their leading fast bowlers Ravi Rampaul and Jerome Taylor as well. Their numbers never exactly looked outstanding but these pacers bowled the difficult overs and always looked to attack with the new ball. Kesrick Williams and Sheldon Cottrell became regular faces in the West Indies T20 setup from 2018 but never performed up to the mark.
The successful longer format bowling all-rounder Jason Holder was also drafted into the T20 side twice, to deal with the new ball woes, only for him to lose his place after a string of inconsistent and lacklustre performances.
Death bowling became a big problem for West Indies from 2018 to 2019, but the return of Dwayne Bravo in January 2020 has helped resolve that problem massively. The Trinidadian all-rounder had announced an early international retirement in 2018, only to make a spectacular comeback a couple of years later. Since his comeback, he has had a staggering economy rate of 7.17, averaging below 19. Hayden Walsh Jr and Obed McCoy have shown impressive skill too, but still have a long way to go.
The next reason for things heading south is a more popular one among fans and apologists. The absence of several well-renowned T20 players, due to various conflicts with the cricket board, has been an ongoing issue. It seems to have finally reached a somewhat manageable position with the WT20 in mind, however, a lot of damage has already been done.
Darren Sammy was removed from his position as the T20I captain and subsequently dropped from the side and the captaincy was handed to the hero of the WT20 2016 final, Carlos Brathwaite. Removing a captain immediately after he led the team to an ICC trophy win is almost unheard of in cricket.
Although Brathwaite showed signs of blossoming, before an important series against England the board wanted the then ODI captain Jason Holder to take over. This proved to be a poor decision as they ended up losing the series 0-3 to England, at home.
Soon, the experienced Kieron Pollard, who was making an international comeback at the time, was handed the responsibility. A 3-0 whitewash against Afghanistan under his captaincy showed clearly how bad the crisis was. This was once again proven in the recently concluded series against South Africa, where despite most big names returning to the side, the team faced a 3-2 defeat.
Playing well as individuals for different franchises across the world and performing well together as a team are two different ball games. Also, age is not on their side as well.
T20 cricket has an unpredictable nature and no one would ever dare to write West Indies off. However, fans of the enterprising Caribbean flag bearers would hope most of the pressing issues get resolved within the upcoming months, as two WT20s in 16 months await them.
