Can the West Indies solve their T20 conundrums?

T20s are the West Indies strongest suit but there are important issues they need to fix. Luke Dunning explores...

Going into this tour of New Zealand, the main positive for West Indian fans will be the consistency that has been shown within squad selection across both the Test and T20 sides.

It could be called a coincidence that this coincides with the reappointment of Phil Simmons as head coach in October 2019 but it goes deeper than that. COVID-19 has granted an opportunity for more players to travel on tour and allow Simmons to create a strong nucleus. This has enabled younger players a taste of the tour life whilst learning from his senior international players in the process.

West Indies’ last T20 action was in Sri Lanka back in March.  The changes from that squad are minimal, Andre Fletcher, Kyle Mayers and Keemo Paul join the squad and Lendl Simmons, Shai Hope and Andre Russell are out and from that trio – only Shai Hope has been left out for ‘cricketing reasons’. Roger Harper explained Simmons had ‘declined the opportunity to tour’ and Russell needed ‘some time to get himself together’ following the isolation periods he had to undertake during the CPL and the IPL.

Then there was the forced change of Dwayne Bravo’s injury leading to Romario Shepherd’s selection. It is clear, however, that the intent to keep a similar squad of players going into both the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cup is there.

That said there are some big questions that the West Indies need to look to answer going into this tour.

OPENING BATTERS

The first question is who will open the batting. This is not really an issue because there are so many options to do it, however the majority of them are not on this tour. The likes of Lendl Simmons, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine and Evin Lewis are not on this tour. It leaves Brandon King and Andre Fletcher as the most likely candidates on this tour but if you look at their returns (whilst opening the batting) since 2018 for the West Indies – King averages 19.40 at a strike rate of 142.7 and Fletcher averages 18.67 at a strike rate of 107.7.

Like all stats context is needed. It can actually be said that Brandon King has had a promising start to his international career as an opener. Therefore the issue would lie with Andre Fletcher who, like all his other appearances in this time period, seems to be a stop gap. It is less than ideal for Fletcher but given those missing from the squad he would need to perform to a truly exceptional standard to knock down the door.

POWERPLAY BOWLERS

With Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas and Romario Shepherd alongside the left arm spin of Fabian Allen in this squad, it may seem ridiculous to say that the West Indies are short of options in the PowerPlay. However, the form of Thomas and Shephard during the CPL should have concerned the West Indian hierarchy even if the pitches were not particularly seam friendly.

The issue the West Indies have is the lack of depth in this area. In Cottrell and Allen there is the potential to bowl good PowerPlay overs and there should be faith in Thomas and Shepherd. Realistically though solutions need to be worked out within this tour and the series leading up to the 2021 T20 World Cup.

At current the squad’s bowling resources are more suited to outside the PowerPlay and there doesn’t seem to be anyone knocking on the door as the likes of Narine, Bravo and Russell wait in the wings to bowl middle and death overs.

HAYDEN WALSH JR

Most T20 sides are obsessed with wrist spin. West Indies need Hayden Walsh Jr to become dependable during this tour.

With so much uncertainty around Sunil Narine’s action he could well get pulled up at any time. Consequently it is smart for the West Indies to try and keep him under wraps for as long as possible but if that is the plan, then Walsh Jr needs to perform.

As previously stated, it isn’t like the WIndies are short of bowling options outside the PowerPlay but what Walsh Jr will bring is versatility. Going into a World Cup that will be obsessed with ‘match-ups’, Fabian Allen and Sunil Narine cover the attack of spinning the ball away from either left or right handers but a firing Walsh Jr would give Kieron Pollard flexibility to use Allen in the PowerPlay and not worry about losing the middle overs.

Given the Windies’ tremendous power game you would never bet against them in the chase. However, if they can sort these bowling issues out – they can rise from 9th place in the current T20I rankings and be amongst the favourites going into the World Cup.

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