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I did not see any of this match or listen to it because I was otherwise engaged but I see a pattern with these two T 20 matches which we lost.Our focus is not going with winning strategies.T 20 cricket is about RISK TAKING.We do not take enough risks especially when people are thinking about their place in the side and batting cautiously.In International cricket you are not going to get as many bad balls so you have to improvise and seek to score off good. balls.
ONE FACT that our batsmen must remember.There are only 120 balls so each one is precious and one can not allow a plethora of dot balls.
BRANDON KING in my opinion had a poor match and probably cost us the match.He soaked up 30 balls!!!! that is a quarter of available balls, only scored 22 and had 2 boundaries.
The result was we had to get 165 runs off 90 balls or score at 183.33 which is a huge ask.Add in Mayers scoring 9 off 10 balls and now we are talking about a 195 scoring rate.
Look at the fire power that was not utilized, sitting in the pavilion.Same scenario to a lesser extent in the first T 20.
Sometimes it is not your day and you just can not score quickly.In my opinion, when you recognize that you should get out and give somebody else a chance.
It is something I recognized a long time ago in the 1979 World Cup final when Clive Lloyd dropped Geoffrey Boycott in order to keep him batting slowly.

How about Rohit's 19 off 18?

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

I do not give a rat's ass about what the opposition is doing.

Do you realize that Brandon did not score any doubles?
14 singles,14 dot balls and 2 boundaries is UNACCEPTABLE in a T 20 match chasing 186 runs!!!!!

In reply to Dukes

I hear your point but King did exactly that he got out with almost 12 overs left. If he had gotten out earlier it may have caused a typical WI collapse!!!

Pooran and Powell also did their job, where they lost the game is only getting 4 runs in the penultimate over. With that you give kudos to the bowling team and move on!!!

In reply to Dukes

How about Pouty's 3 from 3

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

You deh pon dis?

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAGHA

Not having Lewis available is really affecting this team. I rate Lewis highly as an opener and his aggressive approach is what is needed in the power play overs. When he is fit King drops out of the side. You cannot be batting in a power play and going at less than a run a ball in a t20 match. That is unacceptable. Also, Odean Smith should have come in when Pooran got out. There was more than enough firepower in our team to get the job done. Maybe if he got out earlier it would have helped the cause.

In reply to Dukes

maybe we could consider getting a power hitter moving up the order as a pinch hitter…not because we tried it once with Shepherd and it didn’t come off means that we shouldn’t experiment and try it again

In reply to goliath

Better to have tried and failed than not try at all.

In reply to Dukes

Very good point Dukes. The WI approach the innings too timid. We bat deep and we end up wasting our batting depth. As far as ai see it we have 120 balls so if 10 batsmen only face 12 balls each we will still bat 20 overs. Each batsman must seek to make as many runs as they can off those 12 balls and continue hitting it they survive more. We lost that match by 8 runs with Holder, Smith, Shepherd etc left to bat while we wasted balls early up.

In reply to b4u8me2

I thought there were 11 batters

In reply to Dukes

I agree with you, the problem is when it doesn't come off, they get crucified for being brainless by all and sundry. In the lead up to the last world cup, I ASSUMED this would've been the approach taken and I've been perplexed every since with inconsistently bad plans and mixed messaging. Furthermore, our players lack defensive technique to last very long prodding and they also lack the requisite skill to manipulate a field to get the 1s and 2s and odd boundaries on the ground. Notice how often our batsmen pick out the fielders? So why not just play to our strengths? We're the ONLY team in world cricket that can field hitters 1-11, but we don't know how to take advantage of that. Let's uncomplicate the approach and go guns blazing from the getgo and prevent all this overthinking. They do not seem to understand the risk/reward proposition they are faced with-this much is clear to me when I hear Pollard or the coach speak. But then again, this kind of backwardness permeates every aspect of Caribbean society in general(sorry if I offended anyone but it's the gods honest truth). Did the Jamaica national football team really not understand the requirements for filing a dispute? Completely boggled my mind.

I wonder if WI have mathematician in their Team(not a part time "statistician")? I'd be happy to help for free. It's really not that hard model their optimal lineup given the skillset of the players chosen on the day. I would hazard a guess that our T20 win% the past year plus is around 30%, but given the players at our disposal, it should be more like 55%-60% when utilized correctly. Sports can sometimes be a high variance poker game- you have to put yourself on the right side of the math and live with the results!!


Without any analysis, this would be my lineup and I wouldn't be averse to promoting guys from the bottom to pinch hit in the powerplay.
Lewis
Mayers
Pooran
Powell
Hetmyer
Pollard(what's his deal lately? completely out of sorts)
Holder
Chase/Akeal
Shepherd
Allen
Smith

In reply to 1Desiabnu

Both Akeal and Chase should play so Pouty should sit...and Fabian is the next one in

In reply to 1Desiabnu
Our spinners are pretty containing.
I would play 3 spinners and rotate between
2 to 3 pacers
It would be useful if they start to develop Mayers as a T 20 bowler who can give you 2 overs

In reply to 1Desiabnu

A loss is a loss.Better that we lose having put all our resources on the park rather than4 big hitters not even get out to bat.





I keep talking about statistical analysis and running between the wicket, number of twos, dot balls and boundaries




Innovative thinkers, people with vision are around but not involved unfortunately.




They tried it with Shep once,and he failed so they abandoned it

Anyone know why Fabian Allen didn’t play?

In reply to imusic

Because we were supposed to drop Chase for Holder after his batting display but then he bowled well. Is Obed McCoy still Injured? Did DJ Bravo retire?

In reply to 1Desiabnu

Johnny Bravo retired from International cricket after the World Cup last year.

In reply to Dukes

Our current brains trust will never be that sophisticated...end of story. I have avered here that batting in T20 is about utilizing your available ball resources (120 balls).

There are folks here who have no problem with the absurd number of dot balls West Indies face. They have pinned a strategy on hitting sixes. Top teams just take away our six hitting capability and all fall down. It is a very risky strategy which will fail more often than not.

Other mortal sins that we commit, is to have King and Hope opening in T20 and not reshuffling the batting order to suit the circumstance.

But do you think our current coaches have the ability to view cricket from a purely scientific (stats approach) and consider relative risks in maximizing our resources...whether is picking the best or making use of 120 balls?

But there is no way that this current engine room crew will be that analytical.

In reply to Dukes

I do not think we can see Kings innings in an isolation without our issues. We had lost too many wickets early in the previous matches resulting in our inability to kick on. There were 2 issues with King and Meyers. They had to encounter good bowling and also they had a mission to bat as deep as they can with so much.

My problem with our approach seems to be too many allrounders who cannot bowl with control.

Shephard / Odean / Holder / Pollard / Drakes all of them seems to be unable to bowl when the batsmen are going in the last 8 overs. Our death bowling is the currently weak and I wish our bowlers see how India bowled at the death. Our difference between Win and Loss was due to the death bowling. We were neck and neck till then.

I think we need these allrounders to Step up or drop one of these allrounders for a proper death bowler.

I also think WI missed an opportunity to try Kyle Meyers who is capable of moving the ball both the directions. In condusive conditions in Eden Gardens, WI missed a trick to try him in both the T20s

In reply to Dukes

Yea, we are easily swayed by one or two negative/positive outcomes. Look where that baseball has gone where the managers are obsolete and every decision is dictated by analytics. I would argue that cricket should be even MORE analytics driven. Look at football where certain plays at certain times would've been frowned up years ago but are now accepted as the norm because of a better appreciation for the numbers behind them. We have a unique opportunity here in T20, where many of the variables are in our favor. For example:

Powerplay: With our hitting prowess we should be able to take advantage of the powerplay more than any Team. We desperately miss Narine and Gayle here, but Evin Lewis is the guy going forward. What should be the level of consolidation in the powerplay after 1 or 2 wickets? I think it should be none whatsoever. How many balls should a player waste to get their eye in? This is where I always admire Poorans approach-he's balls to the wall from ball one with no messing around.

Limited Overs: Makes it unlikely to exhaust resources in that span of time. Whats the rate at which T20 Teams are bowled out? What's the rate at which WI is bowled out? Maybe we get bowled out 25% of the time but the optimal rate for our Team should be closer to 60%?

Smaller Grounds: With a few notable exceptions, cricket grounds around the world are extremely small. Did you see rohit's misshit yesterday that went for 6?

For those of you who do not understand my thinking, did you just see what Rohit did.? He was not getting the ball away so he decided after scoring 7 runs off 14 deliveries that it was six or out.. He did not think about his place on the team (granted he is captain) but the mindset is about winning not on your personal performance.

In reply to Dukes

If Brandon King had scored a run a ball, ( as lil' as a run a ball) statistically we would have won the last T20.

I see dem bring in Shai Hope...same kahai pants. It shows nacrolepsy has taken over the West Indies brains trust.

One must admit that the placement of these Indian batsmen is vastly superior to our boys.We hit a lot of beautiful shots straight to the fielder.

In reply to Dukes

100%!!!

It’s as if we can’t protect any boundaries and our ground shots are most always intercepted - even in the damn power play

This is depressing

In reply to goliath
I agree that a pinch hitter is a good options sometimes but Shepherd is better batsman than that but needs to face a few balls before he can get going. Besides, if Shepherd not there for his batting why is he there? Odean would for me be a better option as a pinch hitter. Has shown he can hit cleanly from ball 1. But the politics leading to Odean suppression