The West Indies made it to the quarter-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup but their performance at the all-important knockout stage was just as predictable, just as disappointing, as it was getting there.
In reaching the last eight of the prestigious tournament, the West Indies defeated those teams they were expected to and lost to the those they were expected to.
In other words, the West Indies, the once mighty West Indies, defeated The Netherlands, Bangladesh, and Ireland, and lost to South Africa, England, and India, twice snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
In Wednesday’s quarter-final match, the West Indies lost to Pakistan when, after winning the toss, after expressing their delight in doing so, and after deciding to bat first, they were brushed aside for 112.
Pakistan then strolled to 113 without loss off 20.5 overs in 88 minutes.
Despite all the excuses that captain Darren Sammy and coach Ottis Gibson may come up with, it was the same old story. It was the story of the West Indies team, a weak team, in batting and bowling, performing poorly.
On the eve of Wednesday’s match, Sammy said, for all to hear: “We’re are in a position like all the other teams. It’s the quarter-finals, it’s do-or-die, we must come out with our A-game. It’s a ground where we executed our plans perfectly. We feel loved by the people and we’re ready for tomorrow. We’ve played here before. We were the perfect demonstration of plans being executed. The guys are aware of that and we will be taking confidence from that.”
Poor performance
The West Indies played in Mirpur once before Wednesday, the perfectly executed plans were against lowly Bangladesh, and although the West Indies dismissed Bangladesh for 58 and defeated them by nine wickets, that was nothing to shout about, especially after South Africa removed Bangladesh for 78 while defeating them by 206 runs.
Maybe the captain felt obliged not to mention the weaknesses of the players and in an attempt to build up their confidence, not to speak, probably publicly, about their shortcomings.
The performances of the West Indies team for many years now have been disappointing, however. In fact, not only have the West Indies failed to beat a team ranked higher in the ODI ratings over the past two years, but the number of times they have collapsed, in any form of the game, is mind-boggling.
In the World Cup, in this tournament, they lost four wickets for three runs in 3.2 overs to fall from 222 for six to 225 while chasing England’s 243; they lost eight wickets for 34 runs in 12.3 overs to fall from 154 for two to 188 while chasing India’s 268; and on Wednesday, after losing Christopher Gayle in the third over, they lost Devon Smith and Darren Bravo at 16 for three after 5.4 overs; and after Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul had posted 42 runs for the fourth-wicket, they lost five wickets for 13 runs in 3.4 overs, including four for two in 1.1 overs, to collapse from 58 for three to 71 for eight.
But for Chanderpual, 44 not out from 106 deliveries, and Kemar Roach, 16 from 43, the West Indies, instead of finishing with their third-lowest score in the World Cup, would have ended well short of their 93 against Kenya in Pune in 1996 and their 110 versus Australia in Manchester in 1999.
Embarrassing show
The West Indies batsmen, with the exception of Gayle, who did not bat long enough to face them, and Chanderpaul, who batted undefeated to the end, performed like novices against the spin of Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal, as well as part-timer Mohammad Hafeez.
The trio took eight wickets in the match, and but for Chanderpual, Sarwan and Roach, it would have been totally embarrassing.
Devon Smith faced 14 deliveries and was leg before wicket to Hafeez for seven; Darren Bravo faced three deliveries and was leg before wicket to Hafeez for zero; Kieron Pollard faced seven deliveries and was caught by the wicketkeeper off Afridi for zero; Devon Thomas faced one delivery and was leg before wicket to Afridi for one; Darren Sammy faced three deliveries and was leg before wicket to Ajmal for one; Devendra Bishoo faced three deliveries and was bowled by Ajmal for zero; and Ravi Rampaul faced four deliveries and was bowled by Afridi for zero.
Ramiz Raja, a former Pakistan opening batsman, a member of Pakistan’s World Cup-winning team in 1992, commentating on the action, said the Pakistani spin bowlers, with a mixture of leg spin and googly, off spin and and the doosra, were like magicians in Mirpur.
Judging from the attempt of the West Indies batsmen to play Pakistan’s spinners, how they mistook googlies for leg breaks and vice versa, doosras for off breaks and vice versa, and the awkward positions in which they found themselves due to clumsy foot-work, they should thank their lucky stars they won the toss and did not have to bat in the night, under the floodlights.
Source:Tony Becca
