Tim Wigmore on how the growing list of T20 leagues is likely to hurt the progression of the West Indies
Last November, Italy, the four-time champions, failed to qualify for the football World Cup. It triggered outpourings of introspection in Italy about where it had all gone wrong.
It is possible that, at the end of March, West Indies cricket will feel the same. Later this month, the West Indies arrive in Zimbabwe for the World Cup qualifying tournament: three cut-throat weeks in which defeats are imbued with dramatic consequences. Should the West Indies lose two games out of seven, they will probably miss out on the 2019 World Cup. Given that cricket is far less of a global sport than football, this would be a bigger shock than the Azzurri missing out on Russia 2018.
And it really could happen. Think of the most renowned West Indies limited-overs players today – Dwayne and Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Chris Gayle. Only Gayle will be in Zimbabwe for the qualifiers. The rest will be playing Twenty20 cricket in the Pakistan Super League.
While the West Indies have been ridden by the factionalism they hoped to have left behind under Johnny Grave, their rivals are enjoying high quality preparation to qualify for the World Cup, honing their batting line-up and tactics and reacquainting themselves with the rhythms of 50-over cricket – a format that has its distinct rhythms to T20, and cannot be treated as a mere extension of it.
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