Posted December 7th. 2002. - Special Feature by David Hinds

Ricardo Powell and Drakes are the key to a successful West Indies

Many analyst and commentators tend to forget a basic thing about cricket -it is a team sport. Throughout the history of the game, the successful teams have been those that have been able to consistently call on the resources of all of their players. There is something else about successful teams: they have all included one or two players who consistently hold things together when the stars fail or do not finish the job. The current South African and Australian teams are classic examples of these formulae. Both teams are devoid of players who are there in name only, as is the case with the other teams. These players make the difference between teams with stars and team with stars that win consistently.

In Australia's case, the players who make the difference are Gilchrist and Gillespie, while for South Africa, its Boucher and Kalis. I am contending that a team is great not just because it includes great players, but crucially, because those great players are part of team in which the other players compliment them. I am also contending that Australia and South Africa would decline considerably without the four players mentioned above. In the same way, the Lloyd-Richards teams would have been less successful without Gomes and Walsh.

Where am I going with this? I am taking aim at the current West Indies team. It is my firm view that the West Indies continued to fail these past two years precisely because the selectors have never given the captain a balanced team. We saw Lara, Hooper, and Chanderpaul in top form over the last two years, yet we continued to lose badly. The simple fact is that the others did not compliment them.

This is the lesson of the recent successes in the West Indies batting department. I am going to say something shocking: the batting delivered not because of Gayle, or Sarwan or Samuels or Hinds or Chanderpaul, but because of the presence of Ricardo Powell. Why am I saying this? These batsmen did nothing new; Gayle, Chanderpaul, and Sarwan have delivered before and Samuels and Hinds substituted for Lara and Hooper.

But when you have a batsman like Powell coming at Number 6 or 7, you have an automatic insurance. He is explosive; his style of batting defies bad pitches or good bowling. Like Gilchrist, he dictates terms differently from the others. The top five can blaze away knowing that not everything depends on them. Note how many times Powell finished the job with his busy 20's and 30's and the one time the others failed to deliver, he stepped up and did the job. Take Powell away from the one-day team, as we would have lost the series' to both India and Bangladesh.

In fact, the reason India did that well was because there was no Powell among the bowlers. The selectors have failed us miserably in this department. Our best bowler on show is Drakes, but he is really not a strike bowler. His role is really as the balancer; the one who steps up when the stars don't do the job-the Walsh of Richard's team. If we play two real strike bowlers, then Drakes could do what Walsh did in the Richards team and Gillespie and Kalis do in their respective teams.

The truth is the West Indies have no bowling attack. Why? Because our best bowlers are back in the Caribbean playing third class cricket. Why Reon King and to a lesser extent Colin Stuart are not playing for the West Indies is anybody's guess. These two bowlers are not world beaters on their own, but an attack of King, Dillon, Drakes, along with Stuart or Lawson will be the perfect foil for our present run-machine: Lawson and King for speed and Dillon and Drakes for line and length. The key players in this team are Powell and Drakes.

Many are asking who will sit out when Lara and Hooper return for the World Cup as if it is a difficult question. In the first place it's a non-question; one or two good series does not make you a fixture. For me, it is the easiest question in the world. We have often lost because we are the only team in the world that believes in specialists. In a good cricket team everyone must be a specialist regardless of where he bats or when he bowls.

The middle order picks itself - Samuels, Lara, Sarwan, Hooper, and Powell in that order. Gayle must open and since Chanderpaul must play, he opens with Gayle. Jacobs keeps wicket and King, Dillon, and Drakes bowl. Lawson is fast, but King is fast and has better control. With all due respect to Collins, Collymore, and Cuffy, they are at best useful Busta Cup bowlers who have no business in the top regional team. Tim Hector would call them journeymen. Lawson, Darren Powell and Colin Stuart are my reserve bowlers while my spinner, if one is needed, must be Neil McGarrell. McGarell has more control and cricket sense that all the other spinners put together and a good spinner must have cricket sense for he intimidates not with speed but with guile. Wavell Hinds and Devon Smith are my reserve batters.

So my World Cup squad, barring injuries, is the following: Chanderpaul, Gayle, Samuels, Lara, Sarwan, Hooper, R. Powell, Jacobs, Drakes, Dillon, King, Hinds, McGarrell, Lawson, D. Powell or Stuart.

Dr Hinds is a University Lecturer and Political Commentator and Activist. He currently teaches Political Science at Glendale College and Mt San Antonio College in California. Please send your comments on this article to dhinds6106@aol.com.

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