The Bowling and Captaincy aligning the coveted trophy for the Caribbeans?
After the historic ODI series win against England, West Indies are really turning over a new leaf in international cricket as they have won the first two T20Is and just need to win one more from the next three to seal the T20 series as well.
It couldn’t get better than this for the Caribbean cricket heading to the T20 World Cup 2024, which will be taking place in their den only. Whether it was the ODI series or the first two matches of the T20I series, if anything has brought them success in the last few days, it has been their bowling.
England, despite having the likes of white-ball gun Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, for whom Jason Roy was ignored for the World Cup, Zak Crawley, Liam Livingstone and Ben Duckett, lost the ODI series NOT because of their poor batting, or maybe to some extent but because of the Caribbean bowlers and how well were they prepared for this series.
How West Indies bowlers are peaking at the right time?
Not just one, but the whole bunch of young bowlers chipped in and took wickets at crucial stages of the game. Romario Shepherd has been peaking, whether you give him a bat or a ball, he is at a stage where he could do nothing wrong. He has taken five wickets in the ODIs and also picked two in one of the T20Is.
Alzarri Joseph is back among wickets. He was proving to be expensive lately, but the management and captain’s belief in him has brought him back, as he has taken six wickets in the first two games.
The bowling department looks sorted as the pair of Akeal Hossain and Gudakesh Motie is disturbing batters and not giving them any width.
Now, with the addition of the all-rounder Russel-Muscle in the shortest format, the Windies have been looking more dangerous. In the very first match on his comeback, he claimed three wickets and gave a finishing touch with the bat as well, scoring 29 off just 14 deliveries.
These combined bowling efforts are going to be the key to success for the Men in Magenta in the coming months, with the T20 World Cup 2024 not so far away.
What has been making a silent impact on the Windies’ exceptional performance in the shortest format lately?
Another thing that has been working well for the Caribbeans in the shortest format is Rovman Powell’s captaincy.
We’ve all seen how the Windies rely on setting huge scores and defending those or even chasing big totals. But, for the first time in a long while, the Caribbean giants are beginning to defend their low scores as well. And it’s all because of Rovman Powell’s outstanding leadership.
Whether it’s the bowling tweaks or the field placements, he’s been outstanding recently and is growing as a team leader.
Even in the ongoing T20I series, they restricted England to a not-so-great total of 171, chasing it with 11 balls spare, and they defended a not-so-great total of just 176 by restricting them to 166.
Powell took charge 11 games ago, when the southpaw Nicholas Pooran stepped down from the role of captaincy.
In these 11 games, the destructive batter has not been just destructive in his batting but also as the captain winning eight of them.
With this kind of batting, bowling and captaincy, Caribbean cricket seems to be rising up among the ranks and that too right before the T20 World Cup, for which they have specialists in the bank.
image source- HT (Hindustan Times)