Young captain and dysfunctional system challenge Simmons

Sun, Mar 22, '15

by TONY COZIER

West Indies' erratic performances in yet another World Cup, culminating in their elimination in the quarter-final in Wellington, are a certain, unsurprising signal about the urgent need for reconstruction with fresh, young recruits.

They have endured several embarrassing thrashings of late, twice at the hands of South Africa and the merciless AB de Villiers. Even those were not as utterly deflating as yesterday's, in a high-profile match to determine a semi-finalist in the game's showpiece event.

They wilted under a bombardment of boundaries (11 sixes, 24 fours) from opener Martin Guptill in an innings even more clinical and statistically more imposing than de Villiers' quickfire hundreds in Johannesburg in January and in Sydney in the pool match.

Guptill's unbeaten 237 is the highest score ever in a World Cup. It was all the more infuriating as the ever-too-casual Marlon Samuels dropped him at square leg on four off Jerome Taylor's third ball of the match.

Against such a background, Friday's appointment of Phil Simmons, the former West Indies opener, as the new head coach, six months after his predecessor Ottis Gibson was dismissed, comes at an opportune time.