Unspecial WI cricket

THE EDITOR: I intend no disrespect to the weaker teams in cricket concerning the recent West Indies men's team’s very satisfying successes against the Netherlands and Bangladesh in the One-Day International (ODI) and Test series but to the discerning eye this is cause to weep rather than celebrate.

This is because the WI will soon be facing the likes of India and Australia and we can expect no silverware but will strangely boast of the usual positives that took place in these competitions. I would be the first to note that it is not whether you win or lose but how you play the game that is important in sport. But why continue to lose embarrassingly when the WI should be winning big with our exceptional talent pool?

The WI no longer knows how to beat the best teams in the world and the shocking approach to this situation by Cricket West Indies has recently been to announce that it is not going to seek external help.

Please consider the basic requirements of being a world beater in today's cricket competitions. In T20 Internationals this means WI batters need the skill set to put the best bowlers in the world in the dilemma that if they are going to defend against being hit for six, they will frequently be hit for four and less regularly for less runs off almost every ball. And the batter does not risk getting out.

This brand of enigmatic batting now mastered in T20I cricket by the great teams such as World Cup champion Australia and Pakistan and India requires batters to have a solid foundation in Test and ODI cricket, which WI batters of this generation lack, so we have a major problem in the upcoming World Cup.

Also, who even remembers the last time the WI progressed beyond the first round at the ODI World Cup. Not many I can assure you. It has been that long that the regional team has waited for success in both instances. Simple deductive reasoning demands that, all things being logical, our cricket would not be in this dire predicament if the WI could have avoided it.

So "I'm spreading the news. I'm singing the blues," as the soundtrack from the old comedic TV show, Good Times, went, because there are many at CWI who may need a "lay-off" for us to ever win the play-offs at the T20I or ODI World Cups ever again. It's therefore clearly now time to ring the changes there to stop being unspecial versus top teams.

FITZROY OTHELLO

Princes Town