ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: One-dimensional cricket from West Indies major reason for team's disappointing run

West Indies ended their Cricket World Cup 2019 campaign with a win against Afghanistan – and a World Cup goodbye from Chris Gayle – at Leeds on Thursday but their chances of making the knockout stage of the tournament were over much earlier. When the men in maroon bullied and bashed Pakistan at Nottingham on the last day of May, there was hope that West Indies could be the surprise team of the tournament, but all that came crashing over five weeks of futile cricket that was one-dimensional exposing the weaknesses in the squad.

Two wins in eight matches (one washed out) is a disappointing return for a team that promised so much not only because of the household names in their squad but also the manner in which victory was achieved in their opening match of the tournament.

West Indies are loaded with globetrotting T20 superstars with players like Gayle, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, and Dwayne Bravo having perfected their T20 skills in various franchise tournaments around the world, and it is further evidenced by the two World T20 trophies (2012 and 2016) in the CWI offices in Antigua. With the addition of up-and-coming batting superstars in Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran, searing pace of Oshane Thomas, Shannon Gabriel and Sheldon Cottrell, all under the calm leadership of talented Jason Holder, West Indies brought a collection of talent to England that could rival any other team in the tournament.

T20 has come a long way since its advent in 2003. Amongst international teams, it is the West Indies that has figured out the formula for consistent success in cricket’s shortest format: stack the team with power hitters, seam bowling all-rounders and an ace spinner. Their success has been based on the fact they had more players that could hit the cricket ball for a six, the most memorable display of this method was on display during the World T20 2016 final at the Eden Gardens. With only 120 balls available, West Indies essentially gave up on the model of taking singles, quick twos, and rotating the strike, etc. They had figured that the ability to clear the boundary is more important and stacked their side accordingly, and reaped the rewards.

West Indies entered the 2019 World Cup with a simple two-step recipe for success: Power-hitting and short pitched bowling. With the power-hitting pedigree that has aced T20s, their method was to turn the 50-over contest in to two-and-a-half T20s. And with the ball, unleash the tall speed merchants gunning for the throats of the opposing batsmen.

However, One Day Internationals (ODI) are literally a different ball game from T20s. With 300 deliveries at disposal and still the same 10 wickets, the hitting resources need to be proportionately stretched over 50 overs. And even as the bowlers are able to bowl short in sharp spells, they needed to replicate it in their second and third spells if their first spells do not bear out the expected results.

The following table provides information on the ten teams performances in this World Cup (at the end of the West Indies v Afghanistan match). Non-Boundary runs are runs scored when the delivery was not hit for a four or a six (and thus runs scored as 1’s, 2’s and 3’s), normalised for an innings of 300 balls. Non-boundary strike rate is the strike rate per 100 balls of which a boundary was not scored. Similar definitions apply for boundary runs scored per 300 balls and the boundary strike rate. The sum of non-boundary runs and boundary runs would essentially be the score a team achieves in a completed innings of 300 deliveries.

Higher non-boundary runs per 300 balls indicates a team willing to take singles and twos etc., and thereby keeping the scoreboard moving and is not entirely reliant on the boundary hits. Higher boundary strike rate indicates a team hitting more sixes. An efficient team would attempt to maximize the returns on non-boundary deliveries and as well as hit as many deliveries over the rope, and a team like that would be lethal and hard to stop from scoring runs.

As can be seen from the table above – and this should not come as a surprise to the cricket observer – England top the table in both boundary and non-boundary runs per 300 balls. Afghanistan have the worst return of runs on non-boundary deliveries while Sri Lanka have shown the least propensity to score boundaries.

The numbers clearly show the approach West Indies decided to take in this tournament. While their boundary runs per 300 balls (151) is just six shy of England, their non-boundary runs per 300 balls and strike rate are the second worst, with Afghanistan carrying the rear. In essence, West Indies decided to employ their T20 hitting approach of block-block-block-boundary in ODIs and it did not bring them the desired results.

In ODIs, as England have shown, even as there are hitters who are capable of muscling 4’s and 6’s studded in the batting lineup, there is a need for players who are capable of batting in the old-fashioned way of run accumulation. It would appear Joe Root carries that flag for England and he features in the top five run-getters in the world cup, too.

West Indies had potential candidates in Hope, Hetmeyer and Pooran to deliver a Joe Root but the young guns, as talented as they seem to be, have not mastered the art of ODI batting yet. Hope scores at a strike rate of 70, and the other two even though strike at more than run a ball, are more reliant on boundaries to achieve that rate. Once these players get the opportunity to play more and gain experience in ODIs, they ought to be able to develop the finesse aspect of ODI batting, and that ought to aid West Indies post more competitive totals and keep the pressure off in steep chases.

On the bowling front, with no real mystery bowler in the side – spinner or otherwise – West Indies adopted an all or nothing approach, similar to their batting. They ambushed an unsuspecting Pakistan lineup at Trent Bridge with fast bouncers and recorded their first win of the tournament. The danger with this approach is that once an opposing side weathers the early barrage, and with the ball more old and bowlers more tired, it became hard to sustain it. West Indies found out to their dismay as Australia rallied from 79/5 to post 288, and the magic of Mitchell Starc put paid to their chase.

While an eminently winnable match against a beleaguered South Africa was washed out, West Indies ran into the twin buzzsaw of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood. With only 212 runs to defend, they resorted to their do-or-die approach against the English batsmen. Root and Jonny Bairstow, well aware of the West Indian tactic, took on the challenge and the Caribbean bowlers had no backup plan to go to, and thereby surrendering the game in double quick time. The same bullying approach was employed against the vastly improved Bangladesh to no fruition and hopes of a semifinal spot were evaporating.

It was only then they included Kemar Roach in the playing XI to face New Zealand, perhaps only as a replacement for the injured Andre Russell, but the Bajan pacer provided the control others lacked. Roach was the equivalent of a one-down batsman playing the conventional ODI knock, as he aimed for accuracy of length threatening the stumps and the outside edge. It was a memorable game for the “boy on the burning deck” innings from Brathwaite that took the Windies to within a meter of a victory that appeared nigh impossible at 164/7 chasing 292. They were then brushed aside by India’s pacers which ended their mathematical possibility of semi-final qualification. Pooran reprised Brathwaite’s earlier knock, against the rejuvenated Sri Lankans only to be thwarted at the last hurdle by the cagey veteran Angelo Mathews. All that was left was to register a consolation win against the Afghans, which West Indies accomplished but not without jitters.

All in all, it was a highly disappointing run from a team that promised so much. While they have a bevy of players with almost all the necessary tools to seriously challenge for an ODI trophy in the future, they still need some fresh blood to replace the veterans and some fresh thinking to their ODI approach.

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