It was the same old story for West Indies as they crashed to a demoralizing loss to Australia at Warner Park, St. Kitts. West Indies put up 214 on the board on the back of maiden T20I hundred from captain Shai Hope who carried his bat. Yet, they could not defend the score as the Aussies romped home in 16.1 overs without breaking a sweat as the bowling was considered ineffective. There are lots of areas to ponder for the West Indies and we will list out 3 reasons for their defeat.
Inability to stop Tim David and Mitchell Owen hurts the West Indies
After posting 214 on the board, Australia came quickly off the blocks as Maxwell scored a quickfire 20 off 7 balls while Josh Inglis also made 15 off 6 balls. West Indies though to their credit kept chipping away at the wickets and kept Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green relatively quiet. They had reduced the Aussies to 87/4 in 8.5 overs and were in the game. David was joined by Owen at the crease and what followed was carnage.
West Indies did not have any plans to bowl to David in particular as he tore every bowler that came his way. He hit Gudakesh Motie for 4 sixes in the over and scored 28 in the over. The overs were huge in number as Roston Chase’s only over went for 23 runs. The over yielding 20 runs became the norm as hardly any quiet overs were bowled. The bowling wilted under pressure and West Indies does not seem to have anyone who bowls properly or keep things tight. Runs leaked at a lightning speed.
The West Indies surely need to sort this issue out as one cannot be leaking runs like this. A chase of 200+ being completed in 16.1 overs without taking undue risks just shows the status of bowling for the West Indies. Yes, the pitch was a belter and the dimensions are short, but better planning is required in order to do well for them.
Lack of finishing ability with the bat pegs West Indies back.
West Indies had gotten off to a great start courtesy of openers Shai Hope and Brandon King as they aced the powerplay and put on 125 for the first wicket in 11.4 overs when King got out for 62 off 36 balls. Hope carried his bat and remained unbeaten on 102 off 57 balls. But the rest of the batting in the death overs was not great. Yes, they got to 214 but Hope mentioned in the presentation that they left a few runs out there with bat in hand.
West Indies did not get the desired finishing they would have wanted. Shimron Hetmyer came and scored 9 off 6 balls while Sherfane Rutherford made 12 off 13 balls. Rovman Powell made 9 off 5 balls while Romario Shepherd came in and scored an unbeaten 9 off 3 balls striking two consecutive boundaries to end the innings. Roston Chase never came out to bat.
It has been noticed that while the top order is doing well for West Indies, the lower middle order is not really doing the job and finishing the innings. It was apparent in the first two matches and even in this game. For West Indies to do well and compete against bigger sides, they need the batters to finish well and post an above par score because the bowling looks like the weak point for the West Indies.
Lack of Clarity on Roston Chase hurting West Indies.
The other interesting aspect to talk about is the role clarity in the West Indies team especially on Roston Chase. His place in the side intrigues people not because he is a bad player, but his role in the team. There is confusion as to what type of all-rounder he is in the team. Whether he is a batter who can bowl, or bowler who can bat.
In this particular game, he was neither. He did not come out to bat when West Indies were batting maybe due to a tactical move by the West Indies and with the ball he is hardly used by Shai Hope. He is supposed to complete the fifth bowler’s quota but is sparingly used. He was given an over to bowl and Tim David smashed him for 23 runs which also included a no ball. In the previous games, he was batting at 3, but today he did not come out to bat.
Role clarity is an important thing to have and at the moment, West Indies looks confused about the role of Chase. If he bowls only one over per game and bats as per convenience, the question needs to be asked is whether a specialized player should play and what is Chase doing in playing XI. He might be part of leadership group and Sammy’s favourite but he needs to take more role and back it up with decent performances.
What Lies Ahead.
After sealing the series 3-0, Australia would like to continue the momentum and drive home the advantage. Both teams will face off tomorrow morning at the same venue. With the series already done and dusted, both teams may experiment with their squads and test the bench ahead of the big ICC event next year.
Can West Indies finally redeem themselves and get a win in the series? Or will Australia continue their dominant run and go one step closer to whitewash? Only time will tell as we will find out the answer on Sunday morning IST.
Also Read: WI vs AUS: 3 Reasons For West Indies’ Nerve-Wrecking Defeat Against Australia