One-day international series – West Indies lack of heart will hurt them against Australia

Australia vs West Indies
Monday, February 8, 9.55pm
Australia –400
West Indies +300

Australia’s results speak for themselves – in the past year they have won 28 out of 36 one-day international matches that have been completed and includes two series victories against Pakistan and one each against India, England, New Zealand, a Champions Trophy title while their biggest loss came at the hands of South Africa.

How the West Indies can avoid a similar losing feeling is beyond even the most seasoned and hardened cricket follower.

It makes sense that Chris Gayle needs to fire, it goes without saying.

The forthcoming Indian Premier League season’s joint highest paid player Kieron Pollard similarly needs to lead from the front – or from the middle order.

Finding reasons to demonstrate why the West Indies should win is easy; trying to validate those without chuckling to yourself is hard because whenever you come up with an idea, your mind automatically flicks back to a moment in recent history where the Caribbean’s finest have disappointed.

As soon as you discount the inevitably named underdogs from contention they leap from the kennel, maul your leg off and are victorious.

Eight wins from 37 matches in the past 12 months prompts many to describe these fleeting victories as ‘upsets’ and to some degree they are right.

Their current playing roster, led by the whimsical and fickle Gayle, has the odds stacked against them when it comes to the experienced Aussies.

Australia’s players share 1007 ODI caps between them while the West Indies has 511 games.

The host nation’s roster has myriad players to choose from, the domestic scene in Australia is brimming with potential world beaters while the Windies’ choices are somewhat curtailed by the slow death of cricket in the Caribbean.

Much has been made of Gayle’s comments that Test cricket will soon die out leaving just Twenty20 cricket and the 50-over variety has left legends of the games turning in their shallow graves.

His grandiose comments have stopped short however of suggesting that if there are just two forms of the game then those should be separated into a two-tier system.

It is not surprising though as the Windies would quite rightly be in the bottom tier of such a system because having lost 14 off their past 18 ODI in the past 12 months does not bode well for the Caribbean kids.

While it is easy to point the finger at a failing support structure surrounding West Indies cricket and a team more interested in the shorter forms of the game and the money it brings, the talent they have in their 11-man squad should never be understated.

By rights they should give any opponent a run for their money but they don’t because they have lost heart.

Gayle has announced in the past that the current West Indies squad are playing with the carefree attitude that made them a once great nation. The only problem is they are not playing with the same amount of heart that made former players legends of the game.