The Great West Indian Hope - Will it last?
PROMISING SHOW Early setbacks no dampener as Shai Hope shows mettle where it matters most, away from home
There are a few knocks in every cricketer’s career which define their grit and calibre to perform under pressure. For Shai Hope, the 23-year-old from Barbados, it has to be the second Test of the ongoing series against England.
With 11 caps in the longest format of the game and a single halfcentury to show for in them, there really shouldn’t have been too much to hope for.
Yet, he held on. His batting average, a shoddy 18.61, shot up to 29.81 by the end of the Test, and his side has achieved something they haven’t in the past 17 years — win a Test in England. The hosts didn’t play poorly. It was just that hope had triumphed over expectation at Headingley.
After being selected for England’s tour of the Caribbean in 2015, Hope failed to make it to the playing XI in the first two Tests. In the third, Hope had scores of 5 and 9. A month later, Hope could only add 80 runs in two Tests against Australia.
For a cricketer who received his Test cap from the legendary Clive Llyod, living up to that honour seemed to get a bit difficult. The youngster however held on. With the board marred with internal conflicts and senior players refusing to bow to the administration’s diktat, chances kept knocking on the door.
Everyone knew Hope had potential. All he had to do was to prove his worth in the bigger stages. Hope earned his ODI cap in 2016 and in the very second game, smashed a cracking ton against Zimbabwe away from home. Although it would take him another eight knocks before getting to the half-century mark, it provided him with a bit of a breathing space. In the Test format, however, he played just two Tests in 2016, scoring 9, 11 and 41 in the three innings.
It was in 2017 when he finally scored his first double hundred in first-class cricket. That, perhaps, was a sign of better things to come. After starting the year with scored of 2, 6 and 5 against Pakistan, he scored 90 in the second innings of the third Test, helping his side register a 106run victory over the Asian giants.
That, consolidated his spot in the Test format as well. Hope’s 436 runs in 12 ODI innings also helped his cause to finally get the monkey off the back.
West Indies are possibly in their worst shape ever, a tragic fall that saw their tag go from being ‘all conquering’ to ‘minnows’. And yet, if there’s still hope and a belief that all is not over, the responsibility surely rests on the shoulders of young cricketers like Hope who’ve clung on to get what they deserved.
HOPE’S 436 RUNS IN 12 ODI INNINGS ALSO HELPED HIS CAUSE TO FINALLY GET THE MONKEY OFF THE BACK