West Indies batsman, Nicholas Pooran, is adamant that the team completely trusts captain Kieron Pollard and backs him to make the correct decisions in a crucial World Cup clash against Bangladesh on Friday.
Outside of the poor form of several batsmen, the team’s leadership and decision-making have also come under the spotlight in recent days. Both captain Pollard and coach Phil Simmons have faced scrutiny after a batting line-up change against South Africa, in the second match, backfired and seemed to be far more disruptive than beneficial.
Inside the dressing room, however, Pooran, the vice-captain, insists there are no doubts regarding decisions taken by the team’s leader.
"We have a wonderful captain. He knows what he's doing," said Pooran told members of the media in a pre-match press conference.
Despite scoring an unbeaten century for Team Blackwood on day two of the BestvBest match at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua on Thursday, Nkrumah Bonner said spending time at the crease was more important to him as he prepares for the West Indies’ upcoming tour to Sri Lanka later this year.
Bonner, resuming on his overnight score of 90 went onto score 166 not out as Team Blackwood, resuming from 234-4, declared at 384-6. The 32-year-old Jamaican, who had faced 200 balls on Wednesday, faced an additional 166 balls during which struck an additional 10 fours.
During his marathon stay at the crease, Bonner found a useful partner in Raymon Reifer as the pair put on 134 for the fifth wicket before the latter was run out for 72. Jahmar Hamilton was dismissed by Jayden Seales next over but Bonner and Alzarri Joseph (5 not out) added another 31 runs before the declaration came.
“It was difficult at the start but as I batted it got easier. Obviously, it is similar conditions to what I am going to get in Sri Lanka,” said Bonner after his eight-and-a-half hour stay at the crease.
West Indies batting great Brian Lara does not believe it would be a good idea to drop an out of form Chris Gayle at this point, despite the player’s struggles at the T20 World Cup thus far.
The 42-year-old batsman has faced heavy scrutiny in recent weeks and has managed just a total of 25 runs in two heavy losses for the Windies at the tournament so far. The storm of criticism surrounding the batsman, however, extends beyond that.
Despite that, however, Lara, considered one of the game’s greatest ever batsmen, believes the player could still have a role to play in the team and should remain a part of the line-up at this point in time.
"Chris Gayle is already in the World Cup and his experience and the fact that he can pass on something to the younger players is key,” Lara said recently on Star Sports.
Legendary West Indies captain Clive Lloyd has questioned the team’s level of planning, particularly when it comes to its batting line-up on the back of two dismal performances to start the T20 World Cup.
The defending champions have been handed back-to-back losses at the hand of England and then South Africa. Both losses were underpinned by underwhelming performances at the crease, which first saw the West Indies dismissed for 55 and then in the second match collapsed to 143 for 8 all-out after a promising start at 73 for 1.
Following its substandard showing against England, the team tinkered with its batting line-up promoting Nicholas Pooran up the order while pushing Chris Gayle and Shimron Hetmyer further down.
“I think if you look at what has happened. Fifty-five runs, we are much better than that. Our planning seems to be terrible. (Against South Africa) We had a wonderful start, and we didn’t promote people in the proper order,” he added.
Former West Indies fast bowler Andy Roberts insists that based on his strengths and weakness, under pressure batsman Chris Gayle should not be picked for the team if batting below position number three.
In 17 matches batting at the number three position or below, for the West Indies, Gayle has managed a total of 239 runs, at an average of 15.93 and a strike rate of 113.80. He has a high score of 67 runs. At the World Cup, having played against England and South Africa so far, Gayle has scored 13 runs from 13 balls, against England, and 12 runs from 12 balls against South Africa.
“If Chris is going to bat below number three then he has no right to be in the team,” Roberts told the Mason and Guest radio show.
