Following yesterday's Twenty20 (20/20) win over England, many West Indians are convinced that West Indies Cricket has "turned the corner" and the West Indies are now a winning team.
[West Indies beat England by 6 wickets by reaching 122 for 4 wickets versus England's 121 for 9 wickets. West Indies (Windies) bowled out England in 19 overs and one ball. The Windies team was captained by Denesh Ramdin due to Chris Gayle's' hamstring injury.
Six (6) days ago, West indies won their first Test Series in five (5) years by winning the Digicel 5-Test Series. (Please see our previous post, here, for more information)].
I am cautiously optimistic, however. My reason: I still see players on the team who are not putting 100% into whatever task they're called on to do.
For example although I see more grit and stamina among the lower order - those cricketers, (who are usually bowlers), who bat after position number 5, I still feel these bowlers need to do more net work, to increase their confidence with the bat).
Yesterday's match was the exception, as we say superb fielding, good bowling and ok batting from all members of the West Indies team.
I think it instructive that Denesh Ramdin's (Ramdin's) approach to the game is somewhat different from present captain, Chris Gayle.
Ramdin, when he saw the English team piling up runs, introduced effective bowlers and so structured the fielding, that only singles could be obtained and the probability of getting run-outs, increased.
We saw a hungry West Indies team, who were more accurate in hitting the stumps and in getting catches, than in the Test series, where we saw a lot of foul-ups, bleeps and blunders in the fielding.
Under Chris Gayle's leadership (who seems to be more laid-back), the team shows grit and stamina, but tends to adopt the attitude of its captain.
Under Ramdin, we see a team that shows grit, stamina and a determination to win.
Ramdin can learn a lot from Chris Gayle, who definitely has more test experience and more experience leading the Windies cricket team.
So I feel, with Gayle as Captain and Ramdin as Vice-Captain, hopefully their strengths as leaders, will sharpen each other and we will see Ramdin getting the chance to lead the team in one of the One-Day matches.
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However, until:
1) We have all eleven (11) players fully pulling their weight (with the the 9th man getting over 30 runs, no matter who the competition is)
2) I see a more aggressive team, hungry to win and not just draw matches
3) I see more West Indian cricketers who can be molded into leaders, capable of leading the team,
then I will say that West Indies Cricket has truly "turned the corner".
...What do you think?
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Please see the West Indies vs England intinerary/schedule, here.
(I would like to thank jamdowner for the use of his Flickr inset picture, above of West Indian batsman, Ramnaresh Sarwan, at the crease and English cricketer, Paul Collingwood, walking nearby).
Gillian
Sources Include:
>1) Television Jamaica's Live Coverage of West Indies vs England 20/20 Match, March 15,2009
2) Television Jamaica Sports News, at 7:00 p.m., March 15,2009
