Restoring Faith At Brian Lara

-Timothy Thompson

The West Indies team have been forever crying the same cry: failure. It was Test cricket, then One Day International cricket, now T20 cricket is facing the same fate. The failure of the West Indies team is clear, but the deep understanding behind it remains a mystery. The Windies sit 6th in T20Is, 8th in Tests, and 9th in ODIs, which is a far way from the top for a team that was once legendary.

The West Indies team have seen players of recent such as Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, and more recently Nicholas Pooran, who too has made quite the name for himself as a T20 namesake on the franchise and international scene. All the stars of the past had one thing in common: the ability to win. Among Bravo, Pollard, Russell, and Narine, they have a combined 55 titles in T20s. This drive for winning and titles has faded from the West Indies, and the key takeaway from it is a lack of belief and confidence. This was evident this year when West Indian bright spark Shamar Joseph made a comment referencing that the West Indies could chase anything 200 and under. This is sad to think of, especially in a Test format with 2 plus days remaining to achieve the feat. This shows the mental state of the West Indies team and the players’ overall thought process going up against the best players and teams in the world.

To be great, you must believe you can be great or have the ability to achieve greatness, regardless of the opponent.

This winning mindset fans needed to see again was achieved in the ODI series victory against Pakistan, as we saw a different West Indies team. They achieved a feat in which most fans worldwide did not see happening, even in their own backyard. The West Indies finally ended a 34-year series drought against Pakistan, with the last time beating Pakistan in a bilateral series being in November 1991. The team at the time was filled with legendary players such as Carl Hooper, who top-scored (57), Brian Lara, Malcolm Marshall, and Curtly Ambrose, among other players.

The team that accomplished this victory days prior wasn’t one of the most renowned teams filled with iconic or superstar caliber players, but was a team with fighting spirits that the greats before them shared. Shai Hope, being one of the more superstar caliber players and captain in the side, scored a masterclass 120 not out, which boosted West Indies from a position of weakness to a position of strength. Lewis (37) and Chase (36) gave the West Indies a key boost. The innings also saw Justin Greaves playing one of his better innings in his ODI career (43). The innings showed maturity, awareness, and fighting spirit, which in key boosted West Indies to a surprising 294.

On the bowling side of things, cricketing Lamine Yamal, Jayden Seales, put his hand up once again, declaring himself as the leader of the Windies bowling attack. Seales has shown his level of skill on countless occasions and seemingly has only gotten better through the respective formats. Seales was like a nuclear bomb on the Pakistan top order, many “oohs” and “ahs” before their demise. The other bowlers played their roles, applying pressure as Seales kept landing the impaling blows. His destructive bowling was rewarded as he claimed his ODI best of 6/18, and Pakistan fell to the miserable total of 92 all out.

The ODI series made something very clear: the West Indies have the ability to play competitive top level cricket, and this would be possible thanks to the cricketing talents that we have access to in the region. With these talented players, all that would be needed to continue form such as this would be a renewed mindset while facing the big teams of world cricket. That would include having a fighting spirit doubled with the enjoyment of the game, which in turn would create a winning environment that would show both on and off the field of play. As West Indies continues its quest for dominance once again in world cricket, we as fans can only hope to see this reignition of passion and fight.