A fascinating cricket series

It was painful to witness the West Indies bowlers being beaten to a pulp by England in the Brian Lara Stadium at Tarouba. This was the fourth T20 match of the five-match series in which England fought back from two-nil down to level the series. In that game, played on December 19, the English batsmen pulverised the bowling of the West Indians to the tune of 267 for three wickets.

This mammoth score was a tremendous shock to West Indian fans who had never seen anything like this before. Actually, it was the fifth highest team score in T20 international cricket. Also, there was another hundred by opening batsman Phil Salt, who had compiled a century in the previous game as well.

This took the game out of the reach of WI captain Rovman Powell’s men and with it, the chance of winning the series looked dim. It was now left to do-or-die efforts in the final game, with the series tied at two games apiece. It seemed as if a golden opportunity went abegging, however, one cannot take away the fighting spirit and determination of the Englishmen. At the same time one couldn’t help but wonder whether the WI team would have the resolve, plus tenacity, to show the confidence required to win that final game.

On what turned out to be a perfect wicket in that penultimate game, the WI had no clue how to curtail the runaway batsmanship of the Englishmen, especially Salt. Moreover it appeared, on the evidence of this innings, that the series’ result was a foregone conclusion and WI chances were quite slim.

Thus, after a healthy lead, winning the first and second games handsomely, with three subsequent opportunities to bring home the bacon, WI went under in the first challenge—the third game, England scoring the winning runs off the penultimate delivery of the game. WI bowlers were not capable of defending 222 runs, an excellent score coming off the bats of their batsmen. It was disappointing for the hosts.

So what went wrong and why such a humongous total in the fourth? Then, one is left to wonder before the game, would the self-confidence of the hosts be eroded by the sheer comfort of the defeats England inflicted on them in the third and fourth matches?

In the fifth game the wicket was of a contrasting character to the previous pitches. It’s why batsmen have to learn the art of batting. A sound technique assists survival, knowing and understanding how a sound mixture of defence and attack works, thus, how to employ the art of batting under various circumstances.

What a series this was. For a T20 contest, the games were almost all a mixture of good and bad batting, steady and substandard bowling, tactically high and low moments, unlikely high scores and astonishingly low totals in the decisive match. It’s only in a game of cricket that one can find unexplainable reasons for the performance of teams.

And the reason is the nature of the match that depends on the state of the surface upon which the outcome of the game hinges. It’s the essence of the game and the reason why cricketers enjoy it. The variation does not occur too often in limited-overs matches, although it does transpire from one game to the next. However, in Test cricket, it is crucial.

None the less, in the fifth T20, the one to decide the better team in this format for this series, the wicket had some grip for the ball which created variable bounce, a two-paced surface that made it hard for stroke-making and tested the batsmen’s mentality for batting. Careless shots were applied before judging the pace of the pitch, hence, batsmen were called upon to use cricket intelligence in order to be successful on this surface.

The faster bowlers were getting movement off the seam while the spinners were turning the ball. The England team that could amass 267 in 20 overs, could only manage 132 off a similar allotment of overs. The WI scraped over the target in the final over of the innings.

Interestingly, the proof was in the dismissal of the in-form batsman Salt, for 38; one from left-armer Gudakesh Motie, the Man-of-the-Match, that turned from an angle, beat his bat and hit off-stump. Shai Hope had a match-winning performance. It was more difficult to score 43 not out and win the game than to get three wickets on a bowler friendly pitch.

A fascinating series!