West Indies surely aren’t the favourites for the 2019 ICC World Cup. However, few will doubt their ability to defeat absolutely any team on their day.
The winners of the first two editions of cricket’s showpiece event, West Indies have been a shadow of their illustrious past for a long time now. Having said that, the past few years have seen a wave of exciting talent coming up from the Caribbean.
In Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Jason Holder, Kemar Roach and Oshane Thomas, West Indies have plenty of match-winners in their ranks. Their crushing victory over New Zealand on Tuesday was another reminder of what the current World T20 champions are capable of in white-ball cricket.
On the sidelines of the ESPN ‘Built to Play’ project in Mumbai on Wednesday, former West Indian batsman Darren Ganga analysed Holder and Co’s prospects heading into the World Cup. The 40-year-old believes the Windies have a promising bowling attack but they should focus on making the most of their powerful batting.
Here are excerpts from the interview:
How do you see the West Indies team stacking up?
It’s good that the West Indies won a game heading into a tournament like the World Cup. Holder and the think-tank will have a fair idea of the XI for the first game against Pakistan. I think the strength of this West Indies team lies in its batting. We saw that in the warm-up game against New Zealand. The concern will be the bowling, how penetrative it is. You can see that the spin option is not potent as that of the other teams.
I always believe that you have to play to your strength in any competition and I expect the West Indies to do exactly that. We did not have the best series in Ireland recently, where we lost to Bangladesh. It’s a new squad, but a squad with Gayle and Russell will always be formidable.
It is really good to see maturity in the younger players. Especially Hope, who has been consistent and is someone who has an insatiable hunger for runs. His form over the past year-and-a-half augurs well for West Indian cricket. I think we’re the dark horse because of our form in the last year. Holder and his team have struggled to win their last 13-14 series. So this will be a huge test for them. Not having great expectations will probably be a blessing in disguise.
Do the Windies have enough firepower to reach the semi-finals?
I will pick West Indies in my top four. I think they have it in them to surprise many of the opposition teams. I’m not saying this because I’m a West Indian, but the camaraderie and what is happening behind the scenes is promising. They are definitely strong contenders and can qualify for the semi-finals. Actually, I’ll say they’re in my top five. But they can definitely pull-off surprises.
West Indies’ batting has several match-winners but their bowling is relatively inexperienced. What’s your assessment?
West Indies have a nice balance in their bowling attack. Thomas is young, fast and has the ability to swing the ball which I think is a key asset for a pacer in England. If you can find the right lengths and pitch the ball fuller, you can get a lot of wickets. The experience of Roach, who has played World Cup cricket before, will also be crucial. How Holder balances the youth and experience of his bowling attack will be interesting to see.
The left-arm option of Sheldon Cottrell is a plus, he has taken wickets in recent times. I expect him to start with three seamers. Ashley Nurse, who is probably more of a container rather than a penetrative option, should play along with Holder and Andre Russell. But I think they should play to their strength, which is to try and score 400 runs like they did against New Zealand. Time will tell how consistently they can do that.
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