ICC World Cup 2019 | It is now or never for the West Indies, says Clive Lloyd
West Indies legend Clive Lloyd wrote in a column that West Indies cannot afford to lose a single match in the tournament here onwards in order to have a chance to qualify for the semi-finals. He went on to discuss the loss against England and their chances in the next match against Bangladesh.
Clive Lloyd is probably the most important figure in the country’s cricketing history leading the team to victory in the first two World Cups ever played, a feat that the Caribbean nation has not replicated since. Hence, he speaks with some authority when he says they need to win all their games here onwards, having just three points from their first four games, an emphatic win against Pakistan was followed by losses to Australia and England along with an abandoned match against South Africa.
“Eleven points will probably be enough to get a team into the top four, and considering they still have the likes of New Zealand and India to play, it is now or never. Defeats and bad days are always going to happen in a tournament like this, and now we just have to hope that the West Indies have got all of theirs out of the way. They need to win nearly every group game from here on if they are to have a chance of making the semi-finals,” wrote Lloyd in a column for ICC.
West Indies have been in fine form with the bat, having scored 421 in their only result baring warm-up match, before chasing down Pakistan’s total of 105 in less than 14 overs and then put up a decent total of 273 against Australia, albeit in a losing cause. However, they collapsed miserably in England as only four batsmen got scores of 20+, none of them going on to score a century, which meant they could only put up 212 runs on the board.
“They picked a bad time to have their worst batting display of the tournament so far. Once you have got past the best of the England bowling attack, you really shouldn’t be giving your wickets away to a part-timer like Joe Root. He is someone you should be looking to milk all day long,” Lloyd said.
West Indies’ lethal brand of bowling in the tournament that helped them pick against Pakistan and Australia’s top order almost too easy has drawn comparisons from the bowlers of Lloyd’s time, an era widely considered to have had the most fearsome bowlers in the history of the game. However, Lloyd feels they now need to start adapting to the situation instead of constantly barraging the opposition with bouncers.
“They can’t go into every game thinking they are just going to blast teams out like they did Pakistan. They need to be able to read the conditions, adapt to their opponents and the pitches put in front of them. It’s all very well bowling short all the time, but the key to short bowling is the line as well as the length – you need to be asking questions of the batsmen and yesterday they weren’t able to do that,” Lloyd’s column read.
West Indies face their next challenge tomorrow when they take on Bangladesh who have a similar points tally, only with a slightly worse run rate. However, Bangladesh has got the better of West Indies too many times in the recent past to take them lightly.
“Bangladesh are up next on Monday and they are no pushovers – they beat the West Indies twice in a Tri-Series very recently, have beaten South Africa in this tournament already and made a very good fist of chasing down a huge total against England. It’s a must-win clash for both sides – Bangladesh will be feeling very good about their game and it’s up to the West Indies to stand up and be counted,” Lloyd concluded.
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