By Philip Hackett
Prior to the start of the Super Eight round, South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka and the West Indies were my picks for the semi finals of the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup. Sentiment may have been as responsible as anything else for my inclusion of the West Indies among my top four but this unpredictable team has developed a recent tendency to turn up on the big occasion. Such was the case in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy and again in the 2006 edition. Now with home advantage it is up to the Caribbean boys to make their fans proud.
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| Philip Hackett |
With a huge defeat to Australia and the humbling of the supposedly strong batting line up against New Zealand I may have to rethink my choices.
Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies and New Zealand entered the Super Eight stage with the advantage of two points each from their first round campaign. Australia and New Zealand have the additional advantage of having not played Bangladesh and Ireland. It means they may feel they already have an additional four points. Given the surprise results of the first round it could be a dangerous assumption for them. Nevertheless it will be difficult to displace them if form holds true against the so called minnows.
It may still be possible for the West Indies to throw off the indifference of the first two Super Eight performances and produce cricket worthy of a champion team but they will probably have to make a return to the strategies that have worked for them rather than persisting with the desire to change the tried and proven.
Ian Bradshaw is the most highly rated of our bowlers yet has only managed to play against lowly Ireland. Out attack gave up 300 against Australia which proved to be well beyond our reach. It seemed strange to me that Bradshaw was not selected when the left arm medium pacer performed well against Australia whenever we played them in the recent past.
In the opening match of the DLF Cup, Bradshaw picked up two for 37 in ten overs. When West Indies beat the Aussies in the DLF cup, Bradshaw took two for 35 in ten overs. In a losing effort in the final Bradshaw was again in good form with two for 30 from 10 overs.
To prove that his performance in the DLF Cup was no fluke, Bradshaw again made his presence felt against the Australians in the ICC Champions Trophy. He took two for 38 in 10 overs in the preliminary match which we won and one for 21 off six in the final.
One school of thought promotes the idea that Bradshaw is not a wicket taker but the scalps of quality batsmen like Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Simon Katich, Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist among his nine scalps in his last five outings against Australia, tell a different story.
As if the absence of Bradshaw was not puzzling enough, Dwayne Smith was never given a bowl during the Aussie onslaught despite having earned the Man-of-the Match award against Pakistan largely on the strength of his bowling that accounted for key Pakistan wickets.
Equally as mystifying was the decision to drop Jerome Taylor, our fastest and most penetrative bowler, for the match against New Zealand. There have been few occasions where the inclusion of an extra batsman has worked for the West Indies and not surprisingly, the presence of Lendl Simmons at number eight made no difference to the West Indies effort.
The West Indies can reasonably argue that their fortunes have been somewhat affected by umpiring decisions but as long as the ICC refrains from making sensible use of technology by applying a ‘challenge’ system or other suitable method of having more accurate decisions made, the ‘lottery effect’ will continue to influence the outcome of international matches. We need though to concentrate on what we can control. Sticking to what works for us may be a good way to start.
Philip Hackett is a freelance sports journalist who has covered international cricket matches for the Nation Newspaper in Barbados as well as the CMC (formerly CANA). Hackett is also a well-respected cricket radio commentator who has covered Test matches for the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation as well as numerous regional first class matches. He has also provided print media and electronic media coverage of table tennis throughout the region. Hackett is a physical education teacher and has worked in Bermuda, Barbados and now the Cayman Islands. He is a qualified international table tennis coach, having received his training in Hungary and a Level one cricket coach. Hackett holds a Masters degree in education from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. |
