Has Test cricket in West Indies become irrelevant?
West Indies have won just six while they have lost 11 of the 20 Test matches they have played since the start of 2013. A deeper look into this stat shows that they have lost all their eight Test matches abroad while they have won just half of their home games. So the best Test nation 30-40 years ago has stooped so low that they cannot win consistently at home while a win overseas is a far-fetched dream.
What example are the big guns setting?
Who are the torchbearers of West Indies cricket presently? Some of those prominent names are Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russel, Sunil Narine, Darren Sammy. The common thing among all these big names is that they ply their trade in T-20 cricket and ODIs. The reasons vary from a player being unfit to play Test Cricket to a player not having the adequate skills to play the longest form of the game.
So the young players in West Indies rarely see their stars in Test cricket. The players coming up in the Under-19, Under-16 circuit see the money their stars are earning in a day of hard work rather than toil hard for five days and maybe we have a reason for the sorry state of West Indies cricket.
Have the Caribbean players got the skill to play Test cricket?
Amongst all the players that have played for West Indies in Tests in the past two years, only four of them have a career average of above 40 with the bat. Out of these four, Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are recently inactive in Test cricket.
So we have only two young players(Darren Bravo and Jermaine Blackwood) in this list. In the same time interval, only Kemar Roach (27.83) and Narsingh Deonarine(29.70) have their career bowling average less than 30 amongst all the bowlers. Amongst these four players, Blackwood has played only 10 Tests and Deonarine has picked only 24 wickets.
So clearly, the West Indies are struggling to produce young batsmen as well as young bowlers who have the skill to become World class players in the format. The batsmen do not score enough runs to put pressure on the opposition and once the powerhouse of fast bowling, the Windies currently do not have bowlers who can pick 20 wickets and thus a Test win remains elusive.
Are they playing enough Tests?
In the span between 2012-2015 only three teams have played lesser Tests than the West Indies which are Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Pakistan. The staggering thing is that during this span, England have played 13 more Tests than the West Indies and the Carribeans have not played a single Test in Sri-Lanka, Australia and the UAE (where Pakistan host teams these days).
So if critics say that the West Indies are not playing spin well, then there is a reason since they are not exposed to the sub-continental conditions as they have played only four Tests in Asia in a span of three years which is a worrying sign. If they do not play enough Tests, then their youngsters will not get enough exposure to improve their technique as well as temperament.
Most of the cricket that their players play outside their country is in the form of T-20s. The IPL and the Big Bash have loads of West Indian players providing strength to their respective teams. So the skills these players are developing are hard hitting, slog overs bowling rather than playing for five hours to score a century or bowling 20 overs in a day.
Backing the talented young players is the need of the hour
Jason Holder’s exceptional hundred against England earlier this year to save the first Test in the series provides hope to the fans. There are still some talented young players who can take the game forward in the Caribbean. Darren Bravo, Jermaine Blackwood and Kraigg Brathwaite are impressive young batsmen who need the backing of the West Indian selectors.
Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach, Jason Holder and Devendra Bishoo form a potent bowling attack, each one of them has the capability to win a game on his own. West Indies need to ensure that they provide enough incentives to these young players so that they remain interested in playing Test Cricket. The lure of T-20s has already done enough damage as you can even see the crowds flocking the venues during the CPL, but not much for Test Cricket.
Hopefully, the Carribean flavour is resurrected before the format becomes completely irrelevant one day in the region.