West Indies and the lack of wrist in their T20 side

A search for the most common bowling statistic—number of wickets—in the two most recent editions of the ICC’s Men’s T20 World Cup campaigns manifests Sri Lankan wrist-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga atop both standings. In fact, the last four editions of the International tournament have seen at least one bowler, akin in type to Hasaranga, finishing inside the top 5 five wicket-takers. As the 2016 and 2021 editions even saw multiple wrist spinners taking places in the top five.

 Now as the West Indies, currently engaging in a five-match T20I series with the world number one ranked India, are preparing for the upcoming T20 World Cup, one they will co-host with the United States, it is of grave importance that we recognize that the Caribbean side has not fielded a wrist-spinner of their own in their last seven T20s. Not since Yannic Cariah—who was selected for the last T20 World Cup even having not played the format in over six years at the time and eventually did not feature in WINDIES’ failed attempt to qualify for the Super 12; well not since he conceded 28 runs in two overs against Australia last October in World Cup preparations, never to be seen again… in the format, that is.  

 Worrying, to say the least, especially given the fact that the modern wrist spinners’ influence on the game is not reserved for World Cups; they are also dominating franchise leagues.

Case in point, Afghan wrist-spinner Rashid Khan was the first and second runner-up in wickets in the latest editions of both the IPL and the PSL, respectively. And where the IPL had three wrist-spinners in their top five wicket-takers in Rashid Khan, Piyush Chawla, and Yuzi Chahal; the PSL had three in Rashid Khan, Usama Mir and Shadab Khan in their top ten.

Even the just-concluded first edition of Major League Cricket featured three wrist-spinners in the top-ten wicket-takers: Adam Zampa, Mohammad Mohsin and Rashid Khan. The story was similar for the World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe, where Hasaranga again finished atop the wickets charts ahead of the wrist-spinning Scot, Chris Greaves who also made it into the top five.

What if we ventured a bit closer to home, where the actual 2024 World Cup will be held in the Caribbean? Well, we’ll then find that between the 2018-2020 seasons of the Caribbean Premier League, there were multiple wrist spinners present among the top five wickets takers, including the likes of Imran Tahir, Fawad Ahmed and Hayden Walsh Jr.

In fact, in 2018 and 2019, Fawad Ahmed and Hayden Walsh Jr. finished outright atop the wicket-taking pile, with at least one wrist-spinner finishing among the top seven wicket-takers dating back through the last five CPL seasons (2018-2022).

Further bolstering the case of the modern wrist spinner on Caribbean pitches stands the little statistic we refer to as the economy rate. For all bowlers who featured in at least five innings during CPL2022, it was Rashid Khan who finished with the best/lowest economy rate; with Tabraiz Shamsi being the other wrist-spinner in the top-five. While, of the players who featured in six or more innings, there had been three representatives in the top ten for the lowest ECON in three of the four years prior.

Even as we cast our minds back the West Indies’ dominant stretch and their winning formula at the T20 World Cup—which included two championship runs in 2012 and 2016 and a semi-finals appearance in 2014—we’ll surely remember how important a certain Samuel Badree was to everything Daren Sammy’s troops did, specifically in 2014 and 2016.

Samuel Badree has 24 World Cup wickets at 13.58 apiece at an economy rate of 5.52. Twice a feature in the team of the tournament in 2014 and 2016, he was joint third for most wickets in the 2014 campaign with 11 wickets and added 9 more scalps as WINDIES returned victorious in 2016.

The triumphant Australians of 2021 had Adam Zampa accounting for 13 wickets in the tournament (3rd most). And when England were crowned champions the following year, they had Adil Rashid copping half of his tournament tally in the finale, which included a wicket on first ball and eventually a wicket-maiden to claim the coveted scalp of Babar Azam in a spell of 2 for 22.

It’s fair to conclude that whatever the formula to T20 success is, it certainly includes quality wrist-spin as all three of the last World T20 championship teams have noticeably featured wrist-spinners. Something the West Indies are struggling to find at the moment.

This begs the question: what then is the purpose of the Caribbean Premier League if the West Indies are unable to find a single wrist spinner to draft into their T20 side?