LONDON - The once mighty West Indies struggled to qualify for the Cricket World Cup last year but their fortunes are on the upswing and they will arrive in England a dangerous and unpredictable outfit that nobody will be keen to play.
The winners of the first two World Cups back in the 1970s, West Indies have not made the final since 1983 as the well-documented decline in Caribbean cricketing fortunes played out. Throughout their struggles at test level in recent decades, however, they have remained a dynamic 20-over outfit, winning the 2012 and 2016 World Twenty20 tournaments.
The recent return of some of their best players following the resolution of a long-running pay dispute with West Indies board has provided a big boost and they certainly do not lack batting firepower. Chris Gayle and Andre Russell are particularly important returnees, both potential match-winners coming off magnificent Indian Premier League campaigns where they lit up the subcontinent with breathtaking performances.
All-rounder Russell was even more destructive with the bat in IPL, smashing 52 sixes and scoring at a strike rate of more than 200 for Kolkata, both best in the league. Russell is also likely to spearhead a genuinely fast bowling attack at the World Cup that also includes dangerous 22-year-old paceman Oshane Thomas and battle-hardened 31-year-old Shannon Gabriel.
Interim West Indies head coach Floyd Reifer expects another high-scoring World Cup and thinks the bowling will be the difference between the top teams and the also-rans. “The team that bowls the best and fields the best will win the World Cup,” Reifer said recently. “We expect the World Cup to be very high scoring. The pitches are (expected to be) very good for batting, so batters are expected to score runs.” West Indies open their campaign against Pakistan at Trent Bridge on May 31.
WINDIES BANK ON GAYLE STORM TO BLOW AWAY RIVALS: Chris Gayle’s recent form promises batting fireworks from the swashbuckling opener in his fifth and final World Cup and offers plenty of hope to a West Indies team finally showing signs of a resurgence.
After showing his class in different leagues and events, Gayle now brings his bat to England, where some of the boundaries might be a little longer, but will nevertheless be well within his reach. “There’s nothing to go out there and prove, the only thing that would be nice is to win the World Cup,” Gayle told cricket.com.au. The left-hander is coming off another strong season in the Indian Premier League (IPL), smashing 490 runs in 13 innings, his 34 sixes only second to compatriot Andre Russell’s 52.
Gayle’s 326 sixes in 11 seasons is the highest by any batsman in the most popular Twenty20 league. “The fans are always asking you for more sixes. Those things give you that extra drive,” said Gayle, the most experienced West Indies player in the squad with 10,151 runs in 289 ODIs. His reflexes may have slowed down in recent times but the self-styled ‘Universal Boss’ believes bowlers are still terrified of his power-hitting even in his 20th year in international cricket.
“Youngsters coming at my head - it’s not as easy as it was like one time before,” Gayle said. “I was quicker then. “But they’ll be weary. They know what the Universe Boss is capable of. I’m sure they will have it in the back of their mind, ‘Hey, this is the most dangerous batsman they’ve ever seen in cricket.”