WI cricketers fail at mission impossible

THE EDITOR: Glorious power hitting undermined by some very forgettable bowling was the tale of the West Indies’ white ball cricket campaign vs India, which it ultimately lost 2-1 in both the T20s and ODIs.

In a nutshell, the WI twice failed at the mission impossible – the flyweight WI team knocking out India’s super heavyweights on their own patch.

Though they fought like tigers, the WI Davids could not apply the coup de grace to the Indian Goliaths of King Kholi and his terrible lions.

In both the T20 and ODI series the WI batsmen gave a surprisingly good account of themselves by exhibiting the fight, grit and intelligence in the middle that have been missing from the regional squad in recent times. Yet they came up short both times when it mattered the most.

Early in the contest it became clear that no total by the WI batters was safe in the face of some terribly disappointing bowling by their teammates.

But it must be said that if we had offered manager Phil “Simmo” Simmons and captain Kieron “Polly” Pollard the mouth-watering adrenaline rush of taking Kholi’s imperious India to two decisive game threes in the T20 and ODI series before the tour they would have bitten our arms off.

Although the WI is hungry for trophies the people of the Caribbean must note that this is a different team from the one that broke our hearts at the World Cup in England earlier this year, where it ended the tournament above only Afghanistan and was deemed unworthy to play at the Lords cricket ground.

The team’s recent performance was remarkable when one considers that India is ranked second in the world behind World Cup champion England in ODIs and WI is ninth, while India is ranked fifth in the world in T20s and the WI is languishing at tenth.

For far too long the Caribbean’s cricket faithful has longed for the WI to just be competitive against the big boys of world cricket like India. Yet instead of just competing “Simmo’s” and “Polly’s” maroons scared the living daylights out of Kholi’s conquerors and they had to dig very deep to win in the end.

The WI may have failed at mission impossible vs India twice but Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Polly, and Shai Hope covered WI in majestic cricketing glory that should just be an appetiser for the main course to come at the T20 World Cup next year and the ODI World Cup in 2023.

FITZROY OTHELLO

Princes Town