West Indians can’t dance
IT’S uncanny, but all of a sudden Carl Hooper, Stuart Williams and Sherwin Campbell — batsmen who series after series, match after match, would flatter only to deceive — now seem like legends compared to the current crop of batsmen from the region.
At least, the underachieving trio principally looked the part in getting behind the ball before executing their strokes. And in the case of Hooper, he was orthodox and elegant before predictably determining his fate through poor shot selection.
This brings to mind the words of an astute cricket fan, the late Ossie Clarke, whose perpetual complaint was that present-day West Indies players ‘cannot dance’.
By dance, he was of course alluding to the many steps or movements involved in executing authentic cricket shots — in the mode of actual dances, like the ‘three steps’, which requires dexterity in the use of the feet.
Indeed, the display by the West Indies batsmen in the latest Test and ODI series in Australia poignantly suggests that they are embarrassingly bereft of good batting technique, especially where footwork is concerned, with the majority resembling clumsy amateurs on a dance floor.
Batting success emanates from sticking to the basics, of which arguably the most critical is getting back and across at the point of delivery, and ‘covering’ the stumps before attempting a stroke.
Many an observer, in witnessing from beyond the boundary an exquisite square drive, has not a clue about the flurry of foot movements and transfer of body weight that would have gone into that sweet sound of bat on ball and the crashing of the ball against the boundary ropes.
To properly execute the square cut, at least six different movements of the feet are required. First, the right-handed batsman has to get the right foot back, then the left foot across and in line with the ball.
He has to again get the right foot across for comfortable positioning, and the left across once more and finally, the right foot has to get close enough and parallel to the ball. With the toes pointing to cover point, the bat then comes down in a sweeping motion onto the ball.
All this may sound cumbersome and complicated, but many a player will testify that that delicate succession of skills becomes second nature after a few hours of practising in the nets.
Interestingly, despite their negligible Test averages, the aforementioned trio was very effective in playing the cut shot, with Campbell almost perfecting it and in fact making it his trademark stroke.
But with almost all the current West Indies players guilty of inept footwork — Chris Gayle, Travis Dowlin and Wavell Hinds come most readily to mind — they are sadly failing to get in line with the ball and are thus susceptible to the delivery pitched on or outside the off-stump.
Conversely, Ramnaresh Sarwan — who is arguably the most orthodox and well organised of the present crop of players who had only a short stint Down Under — is a good exponent of the fleet-footedness of which I speak.
Unfortunately, Sarwan is a poor and compulsive hooker of the ball and repeatedly gets out attempting the stroke after apparently stumbling over his feet.
Indeed, as a serious student of the game, the little Guyanese would be aware of the aesthetic beauty of the hook shot, but is yet to learn the artistry of quick timing, the swivelling of the body at the precise moment, and the bringing down of the bat in an arc at the point of contact to ensure that the ball quickly gets to ground, thus minimising the possibility of being caught in the deep.
And so, as new coach Otis Gibson takes charge of this West Indies team, starting with today’s Twenty 20 International against Zimbabwe, he has his work cut out, especially in the wake of the demoralising performance against the Aussies, where they failed to win a single match in nine attempts.
Gibson has a marked advantage over his predecessor David Williams, however, as some of the team’s senior players are back from injuries and will feature prominently in the home series against Zimbabwe and South Africa.