Batting power could take the West Indies all the way.
If the West Indies were to win this year’s instalment, this would be their third men’s World Cup win of the last decade. Their team comprises some of the greatest players to ever play in the format and for many, it will be their last World Cup.
The simplest piece of analysis is that the West Indies top six for the World Cup could look something like this.
Anyone fancy a bowl? That’s what I thought.
The top six comprises of the godfather of T20 cricket, in the caricature-like Chris Gayle, who has the most T20 hundreds by a distance (22, with Michael Klinger, David Warner and Aaron Finch next with 8). It also includes Kieron Pollard, who is probably the best T20 cricketer of all time (565 matches – 11,212 runs – s/r 152 – 300 wickets). Andre Russell is probably the most feared hitter of all-time (s/r 169!) and bowls serious gas when his body allows him to. Evin Lewis is a consistently destructive boundary hitter at the top of the order, potentially entering his peak years as he nears 30.
Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer are two of the most talented batters playing today. Pooran is taking the T20 circuit by storm and currently averages over 40 in ODI cricket at a strike rate of 103. Whilst Pooran could be key for the West Indies in this tournament, Hetmyer is more likely to miss out as (on the CricViz podcast analysing the Windies squad) the West Indies may look to balance the top 4 and separate the left-handers. With Gayle most likely batting at three which he seems to have decided upon with all of his current teams, this means veteran Lendl Simmons is likely to open with Lewis to add a more circumspect influence on the carnage based left-handers. This would most likely mean Hetmyer missing out but as back up keepers and middle order hitters go, you could do worse.
With Pollard and Russell very much in ‘6th bowler’ territory at this stage of their careers, the weighting of the bowling attack will be key for the West Indies. The bowling stocks in West Indian T20 cricket are relatively low at present, and this makes the omission of Sunil Narine (maybe the best T20 bowler of all-time) slightly odd. Off-field commitment and fitness are often cited when talking about Narine, but even so they would have to be pretty large infringements to omit someone with his pedigree. At his best, Narine is simply unhittable. As far as spin bowling goes, Hayden Walsh will provide a wrist-spin option, while Fabian Allen and Roston Chase can bat in the middle order as well as bowl handy tweakers. Chase is in a rich vein of CPL form (having played very little T20 cricket before this season) and is worth playing against England because of the way he has tormented them in the past. Fabian Allen can hit the ball a long, long way and is one of the most athletic fielders in the world game.
The legendary Dwayne Bravo is as effective as ever with his variations and batting cameos, in his 37th year, with 548 T20 wickets under his belt, Bravo is showing no signs of letting up heading into what is likely his last World Cup.
Bravo is ably supported by Oshane Thomas, Ravi Rampaul and Obed McCoy but Thomas and McCoy are relatively inexperienced, especially in ICC tournaments. Ravi Rampaul is an experienced campaigner and seems to have been brought back for this reason, as well as his consistency across the CPL and English Vitality Blast in particular. None of these options would strike fear into an opposing batting line-up but McCoy and Thomas offer plenty of pace should they click.
It would be a fitting send off for the likes of Bravo, Gayle and *potentially* Pollard if the West Indies could secure a win. It seems as though they will be relying on the power of the top 6 to win them more games than their bowlers, but you wouldn’t bet against them doing it.
Photo credit: it’s no game on flickr, creative commons 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode
Michael Vince on Sport 
Two very well written and informative articles. Nice one.
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Thank you!
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