WI vs IND | 3 Major Things That The West Indies Would Like to Fix

image-ljzi5tdnWest Indies Test team (Twitter)

The West Indies must improve. A statement of fact. The West Indies have been improving under Kraigg Brathwaite have been improving particularly given their series wins over Afghanistan and Bangladesh and even England (at home) in the last three to four years. 

But still, all’s not well with the West Indies cricket even at the Test level where they have some exciting talents that actually have persisted with grit and patience such as Brathwaite himself, Jason Holder, Jermaine Blackwood, Kemar Roach to name a few. 

What they need particularly in this sphere of massive disappointments is to put up a strong foot ahead in the forthcoming series against India.  

That’s particularly because they’ve just been knocked out of the 2023 World Cup to be held in India. 

They’ve let themselves down. But then what could be better than bouncing back against the very team they’ve failed to board the flight to where it comes to later this year? 


Bring Rahkeem Cornwall in for both Tests

image-ljzi7ykaCornwall has been recalled for India series (Twitter)

For someone who is, quite frankly, more than some random utility all rounder and a capable performer in both departments, it’s a shame that how little has Rahkeem Cornwall played international Test match cricket for the West Indies. 

Cornwall, a giant, literally speaking, was last played in the Test match the West Indies lost to Sri Lanka at Galle. In that game, he picked up a two-for. 

Though, in the very same year, he had picked a 9-for, lest it is forgotten, in the victorious test for his side at Mirpur in Bangladesh. 

But his performances weren’t quite celebrated as that of Kyle Mayers’s sparkling unbeaten double century, which was his first. 

However, when Rahkeem Cornwall was made to play India, which was back in 2019, he didn’t exactly disappoint. 

He played just two games that year and was made to play a solitary five day game against India at Sabina Park, which is where he claimed a 3-for-105. 

A competitive spell, the talented off spinner had taken the big wickets of the well set Agarwal, Pujara, the big one at #3 and even that of “Sir” Jadeja. 

He even bowled a tidy 23-over spell in the second innings, but couldn’t get another breakthrough. Though, on the whole, Cornwall was disciplined and put the lid on easy scoring on India.

But the big question was, why wasn’t he played in the first Test? On the slow Caribbean pitches that are anything but a green top, Cornwall and his likes are handy. 

He could still be. At the test level, he has picked up a 7 for 75 and that too, against Afghanistan who are perhaps more competitive than the West Indies in fact. 

This time around, Kraigg Brathwaite and the coaching administration ought to do a lot better and make the big Antiguan play both Tests that are slated for Dominica and Trinidad.

What’s being achieved by underplaying a natural talent like Rahkeem Cornwall? 


Jermaine Blackwood will need to do more

The Jermaine Blackwood that the West Indies will need against India should be the Jermaine Blackwood that featured against England in 2022’s unforgettable Kingston Oval Test. 

A terrific, strongly-complied 183 run stand for the fourth wicket provided a prolonged period of comfort for the West Indies Test captain with Blackwood, his deputy weighing in against a powerful English attack. 

A batsman who can hold onto an end and yet play his strokes, someone who can attack as well as defend and offer a sense of temerity vis-a-vis the recklessness in shot making that so often befalls many a West Indian batsman; Blackwood will need this and more. 

A batsman whose natural instincts is about playing the attacking game, Jermaine Blackwood has truly attempted to widen his brand of batsmanship over the last couple of years in Test match cricket. 

No longer does he avoid playing the sweep and no longer does he play the quick attacking stroke immediately upon arrival to the crease, which was so often the case in the earlier part of the Jamaican’s Test career; this new looking Jermaine Blackwood shows more intent and who desires forming partnerships. 

However, Jermaine Blackwood will need to offer a stronger resistance with the bat particularly in the absence of Roston Chase, whose frequent failures at the Test level have perhaps urged the selectors to look for greener pastures. 

Moreover, Blackwood, nearing 3,000 Test runs, would derive confidence from what was a decent-if not smoulderingly good- 2022, wherein he compiled 352 useful runs from 7 Tests, though averaging just 32. 

But converting fluent starts into promising scores that can balloon the team tally will clearly be his area of focus. Can he fix it this time in the two-match series? 


Fix the inconsistent batting performances and the horrible recent record against India 

A lot has actually happened in the years since the Indian side last played a Test game in the Caribbean. 

For starters, since 2019, New Zealand and later, Australians have become the World Test Champions; interestingly the exceptional mace being held by the Trans-Tasman giants of the game. India have, meanwhile, featured in both WTC finals. 

At the same time, Kohli, a great of our game, rediscovered his long lost form and is seen among the runs again while the likes of Jasprit Bumrah have broken none other than Brian Lara’s record for scoring most runs in a single over in Test cricket. 

But what hasn’t changed at all is the sheer lack of consistency and the dearth of big team scores particularly at the highest level in Test cricket from the West Indies' stable. 

In fact, it’s necessary to cast the mind on what the current Kraigg Brathwaite-led side did the last time it took on the mighty Indians in the Caribbean. 

Does anyone remember the shambolic batting performances? 

The most runs that the West Indies managed as a team back in 2019 was the 222 scored at Antigua. They were 100 all out in the second innings at the Sir Viv stadium with Sir Viv actually in attendance. In the same contest, India had made a 343. 

But the abomination didn’t end just there for the hosts; in the second contest, this time in the great Gayle-land aka Jamaica, West Indies folded inside a few sessions scoring 117 in their first innings reply to India’s 416 before making a 210 in their final inning. 

Only three batsman entered the thirties, including- Holder, Hetmyer and Blackwood.    

Brooks, somehow, managed a fifty. Sadly, so spectacularly out of form was Kraigg Brathwaite in that series that he didn’t even score a 20 in any innings.

But this time around, the West Indies don’t have Hetmyer. They don’t have Darren Bravo either. Both of them have actually been given a fair share of change to succeed and while Bravo at 34 doesn’t inspire confidence anymore, that Hetmyer is missing out on national duties doesn’t cut a a pretty picture from a West Indian perspective. 

Someone surely - and must- stand up. Will it be Kraigg Brathwaite? Will it be he along with his newfound batting partner Tagenarine Chanderpaul? Or will it be the troika including Jason Holder, yet another talented West Indian all rounder who’s performed in only one department of the game. 

Clubbing the 267 runs from 9 Tests that the lanky Holder has scored including the 132 this year (4 Tests), the Bajan averages 19 with the bat. 

He was faring far better back in 2020 and 2019, averaging in the mid or upper twenties but even then, you cannot accept a premier all rounder to conjure an average that’s not even in the mid-30’s. 

Which is perhaps what explains the scruffiness and insufficiencies of the West Indies cricket, where a little bit more than the usual is considered apt- or how else are we to decode their cricketers’ modest returns?

It’s time for the West Indies cricket to awaken from their spell of slumber and petty performances that for long have become a customary focus of their cricket. 

The mediocrities with the bat cannot be allowed to continue at any costs. And maybe that’s exactly what Lara’s appointment as the performance mentor ought to correct. For if this isn’t a huge woe, then what is? But again, just how much a difference can a legend like Lara bring being in charge for overseeing their performances for one odd series?