West Indies head coach Daren Sammy is looking forward to a much-improved showing from his side when they take on India in the second and final Test match here, on October 10. The match bowls off at midnight, TT time.
The Windies slumped to an embarrassing defeat by an innings and 140 runs inside three days in the opening Test on October 4, their fifth loss in their last six Test matches.
Speaking during a press conference on October 8, Sammy said the team had done some serious introspection following the loss and was in positive spirits.
He said judging from the way the players approached their training session on October 8, he was expecting a motivated side in the final Test.
"Things have not been going well for a little bit...I see some of the guys lack confidence and it’s something that has to come from within, but you know with lack of performances it’s always hard to rise yourself above that level.
Cricket West Indies has announced the squads for the three (3) One Day Internationals and three (3) T20 International matches against Bangladesh from October 18 -31 in Dhaka and Chattogram, respectively.
Following a fourth consecutive home series triumph, with the recent victory against Pakistan, the Bangladesh series will be the penultimate ODI series of the year for the regional squad, providing an opportunity for continuity in preparation for the ICC Men’s World Cup in 2027, with the nucleus of the squad being retained from the previous series.
Former West Indies Under-19 captain and Academy member, Ackeem Auguste, has been rewarded with a maiden call-up to the ODI squad as a replacement for Evin Lewis, who is recovering from a wrist injury and ruled out of the tour.
Strained finances, infrastructural issues, the skewed economics of world cricket, the pressures of franchise cricket, and the effect of all these things on the talent pipeline that leads from the grassroots to the West Indies Test team. Last week's innings defeat to India in Ahmedabad brought all these topics back into the spotlight.
Various voices have called for financial support to help West Indies cricket address these issues. It has led others, in turn, to question why the ICC and other boards must step in to help. West Indies head coach Daren Sammy has a simple answer: West Indies helped the game grow immensely when they dominated world cricket from the 1970s to the 1990s but did not reap the financial rewards for it in the way that India, for example, have done over recent decades when the game has become far more lucrative.
"Look, [it's] the history we bring, or the history we have, and the legacy we have left on this game in all formats," Sammy said, when posed this question two days out from the second Test in Delhi. "Obviously the way we play now, everybody will lean towards that. But if we take that aside, and understand the impact that the West Indies team have had in international cricket, I think all what we ask for, we deserve.
Former West Indies captain Brian Lara highlighted lack of funds and technology as factors in the team's recent decline, but also called upon the players to show more passion in order to compete better.
After West Indies' defeat to India in the first Test in Ahmedabad, Test captain Roston Chase highlighted "infrastructure problems" and the continuous "struggle for finances" in the Caribbean. This was touched upon by the cricket strategy and officiating committee of Cricket West Indies, of which Lara and Chase are both a part.
"If you want to get things done, you have to have the capital to do it. So that is a major part," Lara said on the sidelines of the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards in Mumbai on Tuesday. "But at the same time, I would like to ask Roston Chase and the other guys to... do they have the cricket at heart? Do they really want to play for West Indies? And that is the most important thing because you would find a way.
"I mean we did not have better facilities 30-40 years ago. Viv Richards didn't bat on any better practice pitches or anything. We had to do the same thing, the same grind; but the passion was different. The passion to play for West Indies was different. So I urge the young players to realise that this is a wonderful opportunity. And I am almost sure that every single one of their parents would have had in the back of their mind, their son playing for the West Indies, their son doing well for the West Indies because it meant a lot back in those days.
Being a glutton for West Indies punishment, I sacrificed much-needed sleep after long days of productivity to watch the West Indies orchestrate yet another shambolic performance. And while it was taking place over two and a half days in India, I began to ponder the definition of madness: ‘doing the same thing over and over yet still wanting change.’ As such, I decided to look for outliers. Two-Tier Test Cricket came to mind. The following is grounded in rationality without the temptations of nostalgia for the halcyon days of West Indies cricket. Ultranationalists will tear into the idea, but sometimes to reach the horizon, it becomes necessary to lose sight of the shore, even if temporarily.
West Indies cricket is again under the microscope after suffering another humiliating test loss to India by an innings and 140 runs inside three days. This defeat comes on the heels of a 3-0 whitewash by Australia earlier this year in the Caribbean, which was highlighted by the West Indies being bowled out for just 27 runs—their lowest-ever Test total. Ahead of the current two-test series against India, the West Indies face another daunting two-test series against New Zealand, ‘Down Under’. If recent form is any indication, the West Indies risk adding further defeats to an already grim record.
After the defeat in India, Captain Roston Chase acknowledged the scale of the challenge, admitting the problems are systemic – infrastructure, pitches, training facilities, finances and even slow outfielders! These problems are not temporary but structural and cannot be resolved by nostalgic appeals to past glories. And if the problems are bad for the men’s team, the challenges of the women’s team are even more colossal, as the strategic development of regional women’s cricket is already well behind other established countries such as Australia, England and India. But the issues related to the women’s game must not get lost in the men’s issues. They will therefore be rightfully treated separately.
