“The West Indies bowling hasn’t been as strong in the build-up to the tournament. The fast bowlers have not really been consistent enough, and in this competition, you need to get early wickets.” The great Clive Lloyd said about his beloved team on the eve of their 2019 ICC World Cup opener against Pakistan at Nottingham.
On the face of it, Lloyd wasn’t wrong. He even had the number going his way. In the 11 ODIs that the team from the Caribbean has played this year, they have conceded totals in excess of 300 twice and once the opposition also managed to go past the 400-run mark against them. With skipper Jason Holder being the only consistent performer among them, Windies’ bowling had been leaking runs in plenty leading up to the World Cup.
But come their first game against Pakistan, the stars seemed to align just about right for them. Holder surprised many when he opted to have a go with the ball on winning the toss on what looked like nothing more than the Bridgford Road, the street leading up to the Trent Bridge stadium. And then his bowlers took matters into their own hands and ensured that their skipper didn’t head to the meme’s page in the social media circle.
For most teams, bowling first on such a track would have meant sticking to a full length and relying on their pace to catch the batsmen off guard. But this West Indian side chose the harder route. They bowled short that had the Pakistani batsmen in all sort of trouble. It started with Sheldon Cottrell and Jason Holder bombarding the opposition, and when it looked like Pakistan had a sniff at the way the duo was managing their deliveries, in came Andre Russell and Oshane Thomas, presenting the Sarfaraz Ahmed and Co. a completely new problem.
It troubled Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman, and no one that followed the pair had any answer either. West Indies were making no attempt to conceal what they were doing — and at times maybe benefited from the umpire's leniency over what constituted shoulder height — but forewarned didn't equate to forearmed for Pakistan. The pace was just too fierce, the lengths just too accurate, and the opposition just too good. In the end it took them just 22 overs to wrap up the Pakistan side for a mere 105.
In reply, their batting might was on display too. The ruthless opening pair Chirs Gayle and Shai Hope showed no mercy and tore into the Pakistani bowlers. Gayle played the anchor role, while Hope – in an attempt to be too flamboyant – sliced one up in the air to gift Mohammad Amir the first of his three wickets. While Darren Bravo was caught wondering why he was even in the middle, Nicholas Pooran relished the English summer playing some fine shots to see West Indies beyond the line.
Meanwhile, for everyone who thought this relatively inexperienced Windies side was all about big, powerful hitters and entertainers, the time might just be right to reconsider it.
