Analysing that Shai Hope innings
Thu, Jun 20, '19
The West Indies went down to a 7-wicket defeat to Bangladesh on Monday and one man’s performance continues to cause a divide right across the Caribbean. When Chris Gayle was dismissed by Mohammad Saifuddin for a 13-ball duck in the 4th over of the West Indian innings, Shai Hope joined Evin Lewis out in the middle. Given the tournament both Lewis and Hope had been having prior to this game, there was justifiable cause for scepticism among Caribbean fans.
The pair took their time to settle their nerves, but Lewis soon came into his own. Hope, however, continued to stutter as he has throughout the tournament thus far. The right-hander struggled to time the ball and to rotate strike. Hope took eight (8) deliveries to get off the mark, and seven (7) deliveries to get from eleven to twelve (11-12) runs. When he eventually got to his half-century, he had faced seventy-five (75) deliveries for his troubles.
Hope was joined by a busy Nicholas Pooran, in the 25th over, who set about adding impetus to the innings. However, his partner’s inability to rotate the strike put pressure on the left-hander who soon lost his wicket trying to do it all by himself. Hope scored at a rate of 65 for the duration of the 6.1-over partnership he and Pooran shared. Pooran was scoring at 83. These and the other relevant factors meant that the partnership was only going at 76 runs per hundred balls.
There was a period, at the beginning of his partnership with Shimron Hetmyer, where Hope–probably realizing his innings caused Pooran his wicket–dispatched Mustafizur Rahman for back-to-back boundaries (a 6 and a 4, respectively); this, in the 35th over. However, that was to be Hope’s last contribution to the boundary column. He was dismissed in the 47th over for 96 (121).
Forget the statistics and the numbers for a second and ask two questions:
Did the batsman who narrowly missed out on a 7th ODI century on Monday look like the batsman Shai Hope has fashioned himself into this last year?
Firstly, I do not believe that Shai Hope is to be blamed for the West Indies’ loss to Bangladesh. However, there is a myth being narrated that the innings Hope played was a “well” crafted one. To say this is an insult to the number 5 ranked ICC ODI batsman. A player who has practically transformed his batting over the last 10 months; beginning with the 2018 edition of the Caribbean Premier League. Unless a well played innings is one where a batsman fails to; rotate strike, find the gaps and time the ball well then SHAI HOPE’S INNINGS AGAINST BANGLADESH IN THE CRICKET WORLD CUP 2019 WAS IN NO WISE A GOOD ONE.
Was Shai Hope’s approach to the innings deliberate?
Secondly, whoever thinks that Hope, on a fantastic batting wicket purposefully approached his innings in the manner which he did, must concede that the reason for the West Indies falling 30/40 runs short, on the day, was indeed the Bajan’s approach. Hope’s execution on Monday was almost painful to watch. The batsman himself was frustrated. Be mindful of the fact that even at the end of his 121-ball innings Shai Hope was still not timing the ball. Which has been the story of his World Cup thus far.
Hope not being at fault for WINDIES’ loss and Hope’s innings being less than ideal are not mutually exclusive.
