Whereas West Indies’s defeat to Australia in the Test series was not a surprise, them sinking in T20 waters was a shock. Former world champions, one of the hottest suppliers of T20 gun-for-hires on the franchise circuit, Australia blanked them 5-0, pushing their cricket further into the gorge. Worryingly, the defeat was not anomalous, but a continuation of the Caribbeans’ free-fall in the only format that they had offered a semblance of stability. This was West Indies’s 16th defeat in the last 19 games, feeding worrying signs ahead of the T20 World Cup next year.
Captain Shai Hope could say nothing more than what his predecessors had said. “We’ve got to put this one behind us, and look ahead for the Pakistan series (starting Thursday), and see where we can get that combination and that success going,” he said.
Batting, weakened by the premature retirement of Nicholas Pooran, has been their biggest torment. “We never put together a proper batting display. We either started well or finished poorly or the other way round. Against a quality team you can’t get away with that. And with the ball we never really gave ourselves a chance given we didn’t have enough runs on the board,” Hope said.
He rued the lost tosses. “Unfortunately we didn’t win any tosses. It just didn’t happen for us. Chasing is always the better thing to do in the Caribbean. I must commend the guys for their effortsI think we’re a bit clearer as a bowling unit heading towards the Pakistan series. We certainly executed a lot better than we did in the first few games.”
Comparatively bowling offered some solace. Left-arm seamer Jediah Blades snared three wickers and impressed with his liveliness. Alzarri Joseph showed he has the slippery pace that trouble the best batsmen. Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein could be a handful when then surface offers turn, “Hosein is a quality bowler and we just backed him to come and do the job, and he did exceptionally well for that four-over spell. Just unfortunate that, again, we didn’t have as many runs on the board as we would have liked,” Hope praised his spinner.
On the other hand, Australia illustrated that they could be an intimidating proposition in the World Cup next year, a team with disturbing depth and envious firepower, winning 11 of their last 12 games. Captain Mitchell Marsh said: “I didn’t expect 5-0 at the start of the series. But we played some great cricket. It was something we spoke about after the fourth game. We knew no Australian team had completed a clean sweep. We’ve had guys come in and play different roles for us. We spoke pre-tour about having flexibility and fluidity as a group. The way T20 is going teams just keep going now and it’s exciting and hopefully we can continue our power hitting.”
