Cricket is an unpredictable game, from the beginning of the T20 World Cup 2024, it looked like West Indies will be a big contender for the finals. However, in a heart-stopping encounter on Sunday, West Indies’ journey in the T20 World Cup 2024 came to an end with a narrow defeat to South Africa in Antigua.
Despite the loss, captain Rovman Powell lauded his team’s progress over the past year, highlighting their rise from ninth to third in the world rankings.
Reflecting on their journey, Powell noted, “I think when you look on a large scale, we haven’t won the World Cup. We aren’t in the semi-finals. [But] I think the cricket we have played in the last 12 months or so is commendable. Credit has to be given to the team. If you can take a year to move from number 9 to number 3 in the world, that’s tremendous work.”
It has been a long journey for West Indies in last two years. They failed to qualify for T20 World Cup 2022, then a big shift took place. Darren Sammy took the commanding position and with few new troops, West Indies began to adopt a fearless approch. They defeated South Africa in their background then Australia did beat them but it was a fair competition between both teams.
This year’s tournament may not have yielded the ultimate prize, but Powell emphasized the significant strides made by his team. “There’s a lot of buzz around the Caribbean again about West Indies cricket. We have done some very good things over the last 12 months. Now is where the work starts. It’s for us to continue to work as a group, still be tight, and hopefully, just hopefully, we can continue to climb the rankings and make the Caribbean people proud,” he added.
Powell also expressed gratitude for the unwavering support from fans during their home World Cup campaign, viewing it as a positive sign for the future. “That has been fantastic. For all the venues that we have played, for all the social media likes and stuff that people have given us, we as a team really appreciate it,” he said.
“It’s good to see that some buzz is back in the Caribbean for cricket, because we know how long that has died down. Now people are rallying around the West Indies as they do. Now, when we hear the anthem play, as players we feel something. I think that is heading in the right direction.”
The match against South Africa was a thrilling affair. After being put in to bat, the West Indies struggled against spin, managing only 135 runs. However, their bowlers started strong, reducing South Africa to 15 for 2 before rain intervened. The target was revised to 124 in 17 overs, and West Indies continued to put up a fight, with Roston Chase dismissing key batsmen David Miller and Tristan Stubbs in quick succession.
Despite their efforts, Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada steered South Africa to a three-wicket victory with five balls to spare. Powell commended his team’s resilience, saying, “I think credit has to be given to the boys. I think they fight to the very end.”
He acknowledged the shortcomings in their batting performance, particularly in the middle overs. “As a batting group, this is one batting performance we’ll try our best to forget. I think we didn’t bat well in the middle overs especially,” he said. “Obviously, it wasn’t an easy wicket, especially to get started. I think [in] the middle overs, we lost wickets in clusters. The first time in this competition we have lost wickets in clusters. That always breaks the back of a batting team.”
Despite the batting collapse, Powell praised the bowlers for their determined effort. “I think it was a commendable bowling effort. 130 [135] at the halfway mark, we said we’re just going to give it our all,” Powell said. “Whatever happens, happens. Credit has to be given to the guys at the halfway mark. They believed, even though it was only 135.”
Though their World Cup run has ended, the West Indies can look back on a year of remarkable progress, laying a strong foundation for future successes. As they continue to build and improve, the Caribbean fans have every reason to be optimistic about the resurgence of West Indies cricket.
