The cricket was great, the result even better and the West Indian identification with the team at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on Wednesday night, as expressed in loud and vigorous support and with the intent of intimidating New Zealand, felt like a return to the golden age of West Indies cricket.
When the DJ called for a full-throated West Indian voice, the fans, who packed the stands and grounds to “Rally Round the West Indies”, a song composed in part to mourn the collapse of the 15-year-long reign of the teams of Sir Clive Lloyd and Sir Viv Richards, raised their voices to rekindle the West Indian spirit.
Thankfully, medium pacer Romario Shepherd, building on the work of pacer Alzarri Joseph, held his nerve to carry the Windies safely to victory after the first three balls of the last over were rocketed for three sixes.
The big news is that the three straight wins of skipper Rovman Powell's West Indies in this opening round have thrown them into the Super Eight, with substance enough to force our way into the semi-finals. One jump at a time though.
The engaging shouts of the crowd, not predictable after a very shaky start of their innings which led to position of 56-6 and 112 for 9; the latter was surely not a score to face the tough New Zealand batters with. But the hero of the match for the Windies, middle-order batter Sherfane Rutherford, played a brilliant six-hitting and mentally tough knock. He knew when to pick up the singles and twos and when the end of the innings approached, he was conscious of having to explode with six sixes to take the total to a respectable and defendable 149 for nine.
Apart from Rutherford’s unbeaten 68 from 39 balls knock, earning him the Man of the Match award, his was a lesson for the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Brandon King, and Johnson Charles, who gave away their wickets through the lack of critical thinking and application to the task of making runs.
Yes, the T20 format is about big hitting and scoring runs quickly; but the need is to judicially mix the towering sixes with strategically placed singles, twos and threes.
It has been a serious weakness in the West Indian game for a couple decades without full attendance to this needed means of building adequate and big totals in the T20 game.
Overall, it was a solid team performance.
It is also good to see Andre Russel vigorously and committedly back in the team; sad once again to witness one of the most talented stroke-makers in Caribbean and world cricket, Shimron Hetmeyer, not in the final team; previous personal decisions not to make himself available to the West Indies for no recognisable reason have lost him his form and place. But he is still a young man.
The work is now ahead for the players, coaches and administrators to ensure the serious effort at the BLCA is taken into the game against Afghanistan and into the Super 8 round.