Bishop says T20 World Cup and idle Test period could define Sammy, Chase eras

Ian Bishop insists West Indies has captaincy ‘decision to make' ahead of next summer’s Tests 

Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop says the next five months could be a defining period for head coach Daren Sammy and Test captain Roston Chase. Bishop’s comments follow a frustrating all-format tour of New Zealand, where the West Indies managed one T20I win and a Test draw while being swept in the One-Day Internationals. 

“Roston, by his own admission, has struggled big time with the bat,” Bishop told i955 FM. “And it still sort of bemuses me that a guy who can score five hundreds in his first twenty or so Test matches has reached this point in his career at age 33, where he's struggling to put even moderate innings together.”

The West Indies will remain out of the Test arena until they host Sri Lanka in June 2026. The idle period, according to Bishop, presents them with enough time to review Chase’s role and subsequent place in the side. 

“The West Indies are fortunate,” he said, “in that they have five or six months before their next Test series to try to determine whether Roston is capable, first of all, of holding his place in the team and whether he can continue [as captain]. So that's their decision to make.” 

Chase had not featured in a Test match in over two years prior to his appointment as skipper in May and has been averaging 14 since his return to the team. The 33-year-old has so far led the Caribbean side in eight games, losing seven while earning a solitary draw. 

Injuries to Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph meant the West Indies were far from full strength in the bowling department in New Zealand. And knocks to their replacements, newcomer Ojay Shields and veteran Kemar Roach, further hampered the Caribbean side during the Test leg of the tour. 

Opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul also missed out on the final two Tests with injury, while Shai Hope sat out the entire fourth day’s play of the Bay Oval contest due to food poisoning. Irrespective of these, Chase was subjected to criticism for both on-field tactics and team composition throughout the series.

“He's still not as sharp in terms of the captaincy, strategically, as I was hoping,” Bishop said. “But again, they've got five or six months to make that decision as to whether he continues.”

Chase’s rise to Test captaincy has coincided with Daren Sammy’s transition to all-format head coach. The new era began with a 3-0 home loss to Australia, in which they were famously blown away for 27 in the Sabina Park Test. Their next assignment in the format ended in a 2-0 defeat away to India. 

“It's not going to be a pleasing reflection for Darren Sammy when he looks back [on the results],” Bishop acknowledged. He went on to describe the performances as “unsatisfactory” but admits Sammy “started off with three very difficult series.” 

Bishop says the results, while bitter, are in keeping with the status quo. “But you knew that [it would be difficult] once he took the job—(to begin) against Australia in the Caribbean, against India in India, and then against New Zealand, where we haven't won since 1995. That's 30 years of Test cricket there that we haven't been able to win a game. So, there'll be disappointment, certainly from a Test match point of view.” 

The sense that the Sammy era might be in its final stretch has been escalated by substandard white-ball results. In T20Is, a format many see as Windies’ best, they have been beaten 5-0 by Australia, 2-1 by Nepal and Pakistan, and 3-1 by New Zealand. 

While on a mission to secure direct qualification for the 2027 ODI World Cup, the West Indies have, most recently, been subjected to 2-1 and 3-0 defeats to Bangladesh and New Zealand, respectively.  

As much as there is a trophy to be won at February’s T20 World Cup, Bishop believes it is West Indies’ campaign at the showpiece that will be the determining factor for Sammy retaining his position.

“From a white-ball point of view, the real proof is going to be the T20 World Cup next year,” he said. “That is a team that has a lot of potential from a batting point of view, if not from a bowling point of view. And so, what are we going to judge [Sammy’s tenure] by? And I think it's going to rest heavily on the white-ball component of the game that comes up in the next two months.”