By Dennis Heath,
The noise was electric, it rose to a crescendo as the Zimbabwe team took full advantage of an inept West Indies series of blunders and dropped catches. The Zimbabwe choir, for such was the appearance, drummed, sung, and danced as Raza and company watched the ball strike or flew over the boundary markers.
West Indies bowling attack performed admirably to restrict Zimbabwe batters to 269 runs. This total was bolstered by the many fielding missteps and the occasional bad delivery from West Indies bowlers. Quite noticeable to these eyes, the field placings by the West Indies captain appeared to be inappropriately attacking throughout the Zimbabwe innings, thus giving plenty of gaps for the batters to exploit.
West Indies bowlers, for the most part, performed admirably. But their impetus was shredded often due to the poor field setting, the amateurish and juvenile fielding performance of professional cricket T20 players. In fact, the sloppiness had a noticeable effect on at least one West Indian bowler. Fast attack bowler, Alzarri Joseph, was the tip of the attacking bowler’s spear, quite unfortunately each time the spear struck, the effect was countered by the many dropped or mis-handled catches. Alzarri visibly reacted, he hung his head, he shrugged his shoulders and at times, I believe that I could read his thoughts.
Finally, Joseph dropped his six-foot frame to the turf. He rose and took his fielding position on the boundary line and demonstrated how it should be done by taking two brilliant catches near the boundary line. Shortly thereafter, Alzarri completed his overs allotment with seven or six overs remaining in the Zimbabwe innings, he promptly left the field of play and the substitute fielder appeared. There was no sign of an injury or otherwise, except for maybe his pride. Was that a display of petulance?
Whilst it was clear that the performance of the West Indies team fielders was shockingly awful, this show of petulance, if that is what it was, is unacceptable. Team players have a duty to show respect and support in good times and bad, and certainly when in public, however badly your teammates performed. I think that it is described as leadership.
As for the match, the crescendo of noise and happiness from Zimbabwe supporters showed their delight that their team had defeated the once mighty West Indies team. The result matters not at this stage because West Indies will move to the Super Six round. But based on West Indies historical performance in these Qualifier matches. It is very likely that more shocks may be in store for West Indies supporters. I will keep my fingers crossed.
>>>> By Leon Francis
WI loss to Zimbabwe today is a wake up call for the new coach Sammy.This is his first loss since he took up the role at the helm. Up to date, the WI fielding and catching in particular have been appalling. This is a situation that has to be fixed immediately. Despite the drop catches, 269 was gettable. Charles has a poor run and should be replaced by Carty. I would venture to bring in Sheppard for Powell, he to has lost his confidence. All is not loss yet, they will come up against The Netherlands with a win; to ensure finishing in the top three in the group. WI will have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan of action.
Back to the game , why was the referral system not used in the Pooran’s decision ? In such vital matches all possible measures should be put in place in order to ensure that correct decisions are made.
For the life of me why was Powell promoted ahead of Holder?
Nevertheless, the WI has got to blame themselves for this defeat today and have to put this behind them and come back fighting on all cylinders henceforth.
