“We are generally more aggressive types of players; the white-ball formats suit our style of play.” – Shai Hope
Telford Vice / Cape Town
ON the road in bilateral series against tougher opposition, the real West Indies men’s team stand up more often in T20Is than in Tests or ODIs. That’s not an opinion.
West Indies haven’t won a Test series in Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan — or the United Arab Emirates — South Africa or Sri Lanka since they beat the Kiwis in February 1995. That’s more than 28 years in which they have played 37 series in those countries comprising 115 Tests, of which they have won only nine while losing 87.
The Windies’ drought in bilateral ODI rubbers in the backyard of decent teams isn’t as long. But it still goes back to July 2007, when they won in England. Since then they have played 77 matches, won 10 and lost 61.
Their T20I record sticks out like a robust thumb on a weak hand. West Indies have played 23 series in the countries above and won five of them, and all since they last claimed an away rubber against those teams in the other two formats. That adds up to 60 games, of which they have won 16 and lost 39.
The Windies’ winning percentage in T20Is in these terms — 26.67% — is exponentially better than in ODIs — 12.99% — or Tests — 7.83%. Essentially, they have been almost three-and-a-half times as successful in away T20Is against quality sides compared to Tests since that 1995 series in New Zealand, and more than twice as much in T20Is than ODIs since they won in England in 2007.
Overall, home and away and regardless of the strength of their opponents, and since they played their first T20I in February 2006, West Indies have won 22.76% of their Tests, 36.56% of their ODIs, and 40.78% of their T20Is. It’s safe to say their premier format is T20I. Or at least that they have become white-ball specialists.
Alzarri Joseph was unconvinced: “I would not think so. I think we still prioritise the longer format. These days a lot more white-ball cricket is being played than Test cricket, so that’s maybe why you would see it that way.”
That’s a difficult argument to make. Joseph spoke at a press conference at the Wanderers on Tuesday after his team had beaten South Africa by seven runs to clinch the T20I series 2-1. The ODI rubber, in which the first match was lost to rain, was drawn 1-1 and South Africa won both Tests. It is true that the Windies play fewer Tests in the modern game, but just as valid that they are a better team in the other formats, T20I in particular.
West Indies have never topped the Test rankings since they were introduced in June 2003. If the formula is applied retroactively, the last time they would have been the No. 1 team was in August 1995. They won the first two World Cups, in 1975 and 1979, but haven’t earned that title since. Their T20I World Cup triumphs have been more recent — in 2012 and 2016.
“I can’t hundred percent put my finger on it, but I do think we are generally more aggressive types of players; the white-ball formats suit our style of play,” Shai Hope, the ODI captain, said after that series. “But we need to find ways to adapt regardless of the format or the situation of the game. We need to create winning habits, and the only way we can do so is by winning games.”
Rovman Powell, the T20I captain, thought he saw that kind of change coming: “As the years go by and the guys start playing more and get familiar with their role for West Indies, hopefully we’ll get better performances. The guys are working hard to change the perception that West Indies aren’t the best international team at the moment. Hopefully this [T20I] series can be the start of people realising that West Indies cricket is slowly but surely getting back to where it truly belongs.”
By that he was probably talking about the 10 years that began with the Windies’ Test series in England in 1976. By April 1986, they had lost only six, and won 38, of the 78 Tests they had played in that period. But the deep maroon of the caps worn then has faded to an insipid marshmallow pink, the T20I version excepted.
The South Africans would do well to consider the experience of the most recent visitors a cautionary tale. They don’t want to wake up one day to find the bold green of their caps looking like thoroughly chewed and discarded spearmint gum.
As South Africa’s new white-ball coach, Rob Walter is tasked with stopping that from happening. Although South Africa have won only two of the five games with him in their dugout, a fresh positivity has been apparent in their approach. In Centurion on Sunday they chased down a world record target of 259 to win the second T20I, and they had the misfortune of being up against a team almost impervious to pressure at the Wanderers two days later — where the visitors piled up 222/8 in the series decider.
“We’re certainly making progress in how we want to play the game,” Walter told a press conference on Tuesday. “It’s good to see the guys playing with freedom and expressing their skills, and there’s more in the tank I believe.”
Was that his doing? “I would be very arrogant to say I’ve had a significant impact in this short space of time. It’s about being consistent with the language I use with the team, and that is consistently telling them to find ways to express themselves, to take aggressive options — when they feel under pressure to think what is the aggressive option they have in their strengths — and then back that. If they do that and it doesn’t work we can deal with it, but more often than not it does.”
Walter’s and his team’s looming challenge is to beat the Netherlands in their World Cup Super League fixtures in Benoni on Friday and at the Wanderers on Sunday. The Dutch are bona fide minnows but they got up to beat South Africa, and eliminate them from the race for the T20 World Cup semifinals, in Adelaide in November. Victory in the coming games is vital for South Africa’s hopes of qualifying directly for the ODI World Cup in India in October and November.
What could Walter’s players take from the way they had performed against the West Indians? “Confidence is transferrable. It’s the only thing you take into the [next] game. The batter’s on nought and the bowler’s got the ball in their hand for the first time again. It will be no different on Friday.”
That, too, is not an opinion.
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