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Simmons was the coach responsible for building a team to take to the World Cup. The following was what the WI went with to the World Cup:


1. Cariah and Reifer were selected to debut at a World Cup. Both had never played a T20I for the WI and were not even part of any WI T20 squad ever.

2. Johnson Charles and Evin Lewis did not play for the WI in the twelve months leading up to the World Cup. Charles in fact did not play for the WI since about 2016.

3. Joseph, as surprising as it was, played his first T20I for the WI on July 29 this year and only played five T20I for the WI before making the trip to Australia. Was a tragedy that Phil Simmons and the selectors took so long to include Alzarri into the squad.

4. Cottrell was out of the team injured for most of the year and only played in the series against England at home and away to India.

5. Obed McKoy after playing on Oct 23, 2021 did not play a T20I again for the WI until July 2 this year. So he was out for a good 8 months in the past year also due to injury.

6. That's seven players listed above out of a squad of 15 players selected for the World Cup who did not play consistently for the WI during the year leading up to the World Cup. That is almost half the squad. Four of those players did not play for the WI at all in the year leading up to the World Cup. What kind of team was Phil Simmons building in preparation for the World Cup when half of the squad to the World Cup were not consistently part of the team over the past year?

7. At the world cup, Evin Lewis batted at number 3 for the FIRST time in his T20I career. He had NEVER batted at number 3 in a T20I before. Yet at a worldcup he was asked to bat at number 3 in two of the three matches he played.

8. Brooks played as an opener and at number 3 in ten of his eleven T20I for the WI prior to making the trip to Australia. He also earned a call up to the squad based on his performances in the CPL batting at number 3. Yet at the World Cup, Brooks was asked to bat at number 5 and 6. Brooks had NEVER batted at number 6 for the WI in a T20I before. He batted at number 5 only once before.

9. Pooran who batted at number 3 in 16 of his last 25 matches before going to Australia was now being asked to bat at number 4 and 5 at the World Cup.

10. Brandon King who has opened in every T20I match he has played since December 2019 was suddenly asked to bat at number 3 or 4 at the World Cup. King had NEVER batted at number 3 or 4 in a T20I between December 2019 and his trip to Australian for the World Cup.

11. Rovman Powell who has one century and four 50s in T20I all while batting at number 4 or 5 was pushed to number 6 for the World Cup.

Based on my points at number 7 to 11 above, it is clear Phil Simmons did not have a clue the role he wanted each batsman to play. In Lewis, King and Brooks, you had three batsman in the top 6 at a World Cup who were batting in positions they had NEVER batted at before. The team was unsettled and the batting positions unsettled leading into a World Cup. Players batting at certain positions for the first time in their life and this is done at a World Cup. This was poor planning on the part of the coach. I won't even get into the poor use of the bowlers and the apparent decision to only bowl Jason Holder after the powerplay regardless of the situation.

In reply to b4u8me2

Spot on, I think after the opening loss, not enough adjustments were made

All of them based on what you said above



Mayers
King
Brooks
Powell
Smith/ Holder
Reifer
Holder/ Smith
Pooran

Should have been the batting order based on form leading into the World Cup.

This would have at least given the impression that there was some evidence based strategy...based on what we saw...not sure what the strategy was regarding the batting line up

In reply to DIEHARD

It baffles me how it is the players who gets the blunt of the blame when it's obvious to me how badly Phil Simmons failed as a coach. If the Argentina football coach puts Messi to play center back instead of as a striker at the upcoming Worldcup and Argentina loses the match, would we blame Messi or the coach? We can't expect players to do well, especially at a worldcup, when they are asked to perform roles they are unfamiliar and have never been tasked before.

In reply to b4u8me2

Some very good points but in regards to #9, Pooran is better in white ball Cricket at #5. Should have never been forced to bat at #3.

In reply to jen

Poorans ridiculously poor form means we should have been hiding the skipper at the WC.

Maybe the problem from the start was our skipper was a passenger.

How could he inspire an inexperienced bunch of players to perform on one of the biggest stages when he himself could not?

3-4 idiots and a bottle of puncheon

In reply to b4u8me2

Well researched.

I suspect that mentally Phil checked out long before this WORLD CUP.

it does feel strange to not even get past the qualifiers...that is Historic...no amount of fluff about how excellent a Captain Pooran is ( bad rum i suspect by the commie yesterday ) can explain away the piss poor leadership of both Phil and poo poo.

In reply to DIEHARD

In reply to powen001

In reply to Barry

Plz elaborate.

In reply to b4u8me2


Insightful information!

In reply to jen


Endorsed!