Inability to face bouncers shocks fans at home in the West Indies

Cricket remains the big sporting drawcard in the Caribbean, but attention no longer centres on the West Indies team.

That’s the message from Trinidadian cricket commentator Fazeer Mohammed, who told Radio Sport T20 cricket is sweeping past the test and one-day formats with the younger generation.

Fazeer said claims other sports such as basketball were eating into the cricketing stronghold were overstated, but the lure of the Indian T20 league and Australia’s Big Bash cast shadow over the rest of the formats.

“The younger generation are still very much locked into cricket but it is the T20 format . . . they dream of playing for the Mumbai Indians or in the Big Bash in Australia before they would even think of playing for the West Indies.”

Fans had low expectations of the West Indies in New Zealand, but were shocked at how bad they have been and, in particular, their problems against short-pitched bowling.

“The people are delighted this debacle is taking place during the festive season so they can be preoccupied with the celebrations and ignore the catastrophic experience in New Zealand,” Fazeer said.

“The expectations would not have been high — over the years the West Indies teams have performed pretty poorly in New Zealand.

“The last time the West Indies won a test match in New Zealand was way back in 1995 when the likes of Courtney Walsh had a key impact. But I don’t think they expected them to capitulate so regularly and poorly as they have done so far.

“To fall apart completely from day one at the Basin Reserve, it really has taken fans by surprise. The really disappointing, almost shocking aspect, of it is their inability to handle short-pitched bowling.

“Neil Wagner — with the greatest respect to him — wouldn’t be classified as a tearaway fast bowler, certainly Lockie Ferguson is up there clocking a fair rate of knots . . . just to see how difficult it has been for them, to cope with fast-medium bowling.

“Anything fairly decent on the line of the body, how inept they have looked in dealing with that line of attack raises a lot of concerns.”

Fazeer said fans should be worried about the West Indies even qualifying for the 2019 World Cup. They go to Zimbabwe for a qualifying tournament that includes hosts Afghanistan and Ireland in March.

He was slightly more upbeat about their chances in three T20 game starting in Nelson today.

“There is absolutely no doubt the shorter the game gets the better the West Indies are, although it doesn’t guarantee they will win a match or the series,” he said.

“Chris Gayle will be one of the keys. His technique may not be the greatest. Mobility has a question mark — he is not known to be sprinting between the wickets or sprinting anywhere but that power hitting . . . he might go six, seven, eight deliveries without scoring a run, but in the next six or seven he can get you 28.

“What you will see is a West Indies team which is far more energetic and purposeful than you have seen so far.”