New-look West Indies out to show there's life after legendary era

From the last T20 World Cup, out have gone Kieron Pollard, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Fletcher, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr, Fabian Allen, Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase

It's never dull with West Indies cricket, and the build-up to this year's T20 World Cup has been no different.

The decision to deselect Shimron Hetmyer for missing his flight is the latest situation to beset a team that came into the 2021 tournament with high hopes but left realising the need to move on from several greats of the format.

So, along with Hetmyer, punished for his tardiness, out have gone Kieron Pollard, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Fletcher, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr, Fabian Allen and Roston Chase. Four of them won the World T20 in 2016; Pollard, Bravo and Simmons have retired from international cricket; six years on from that triumph, only three of that squad – Johnson Charles, Evin Lewis and Jason Holder – remain.

Alongside the experience offered by that trio, Nicholas Pooran is the new captain, Rovman Powell his deputy. What might look like a new era still features eight players in their thirties and none younger than 25.

Even the most leftfield pick of Yannic Cariah – a veteran of six T20 appearances spread over nine years, the first for Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel in the Caribbean Premier League's earliest days – is a 30-year-old leg-spinner, whose selection came as a shock to just about everyone.

^{Yannic Cariah made his T20I debut earlier this month (Chris Hyde/Getty Images)}

It's one of the most fascinating picks in World Cup history: opposition teams will be light on prior information, and last week he dismissed Glenn Maxwell for his first wicket on T20I debut.

With all the T20 cricket in the Caribbean, he has slipped under the radar, without a CPL appearance since 2016 and possessing a set of statistics arguably more complimentary of his batting, but since catching the eye of Desmond Haynes, West Indies selector, everything has changed. He has usurped Walsh in the leg-spinning pecking order and was picked against Australia over Akeal Hosein.

How he fares over the next week or few promises to be a subplot of its own. And given the appetite for difference and unknown on the franchise circuit, who knows what a couple of match-winning performances might do for the remainder of Cariah's career?

THE BIG MATCH

Who: West Indies v Scotland

Where: Blundstone Arena, Hobart

When: Monday, October 17 (3pm local, 5am BST)

Prediction: West Indies

He has benefited, too, from Sunil Narine's continued absence; the reason given for his omission this time around was a lack of interest. "I did not get any notice from Narine regarding his availability to play," said Haynes last month, who also explained that he had chosen to "move on" from Russell.

So, it is left to this new generation to pick up the pieces, beginning with their participation in the first round – a symbol in itself of where the former champions find themselves.

^{Sunil Narine was once again omitted from West Indies' squad (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)}

You'd be brave to write them off, however, with plenty of talent still to choose from and several players with recent positive form behind them from the CPL, including Shamarh Brooks, who was called up as Hetmyer's replacement not long after an unbeaten hundred for Jamaica Tallawahs.

In Pooran, of course, they still possess one of the leading T20 cricketers in the world. And this is his team now, faced with the chance to right the wrongs of last time around, when all that could go wrong did.

They were bowled out for 55 in their competition-opener and hardly got better thereafter, only beating Bangladesh – and then on, only by three runs – before finishing off with consecutive defeats by Sri Lanka and Australia.

A year on, plenty has changed. When they face Scotland on Monday – after seven wins in 21 T20Is in 2022 – we will find out how much.

Related Topics

• Shimron Hetmyer dropped from West Indies' T20 World Cup squad