With everyone focused on the Ashes, it is easy to miss that the Blackcaps have demolished a hapless and demoralised Windies outfit by an innings and 73 runs in the second Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.
But the cricketing world has been too caught up in the Ashes to notice that for the second Test in a row, New Zealand have run through a Windies batting line-up showing worse form and technique than the Australians in England earlier in the year.
Nobody expected much to come out of a three-Test series played at grounds which would be a fraction bigger than you’re local cricket club.
Granted, Dunedin and Hamilton aren’t really needing an MCG-style arena (Wellington already has Westpac Stadium), but what is playing out on these small grounds is big cricketing news.
The West Indies are in a lot of trouble. Still reeling from a player divide with the board, as well as a lack of interest from the general public as locals are bombarded with the NBA and EPL, has left West Indian cricket in a desperate state.
Shiv Chanderpaul, the one singular mainstay in the maroon cap, is now 39 and does not have a lot of cricket left in him.
Chris Gayle is unable to maintain a spot or form in the side.
Kieron Pollard is only good for limited overs cricket as is Dwayne Bravo.
Throw in a rag-tag bunch which is rotated endlessly and you have a team out of form, out of luck, and just flat-out sad.
The Windies played two Tests and three ODIs in India before travelling to NZ. Their last ODI was on the 27th of November, the first Test was on December 3.
Only 4 of the 11 backed up from that match, including captain Darren Sammy who only bowled three overs.
More worrying is that the Windies bowling stats. in the last three Tests they have bowled 406.2 overs with 183 of those being spin, that’s 45% of the time the Windies are bowling spin.
What’s more worrying?
Those 183 overs were shared between two bowlers. In the space of three weeks, with one Test to go, two spinners have had to carry at times an insipid pace attack, its only a matter of time before one of them goes down.
And this is not the first time the Windies have been found over-relying on spin bowling.
Anyone remember Sulieman Benn’s 80 overs in a match in Adelaide in 2009?
Their current pace attack consists of Tino Best, Shannon Gabriel and Darren Sammy. Doesn’t exactly strike the same fear Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh were able to.
In the current series the New Zealand commentators, featuring Ian Bishop (a Windies great), have laboured over poor bowling from Shannon Gabriel and whether it be his seam position or line and length.
No surprise he failed to take a wicket in Dunedin.
Darren Sammy has trundled in and seen his well-thought out plans been dispatched to every edge of the ground by Ross Taylor and co.
Even Trent Boult, the Kiwis No.11, took a liking to his bowling.
Tino Best however, the tight shirt wearing, muscle rippling, angry fast bowler has been able to really trouble the Blackcaps, but even then its only been in short bursts, nothing Mitch Johnson like.
We then come to the batting, an order which in its four batting attempts has failed three out of four occasions, it took a well-crafted Darren Bravo double century to see them post a respectable score.
Opener Kieron Powell has scores of 7,14, 21 and 36. Marlon Samuels has 14, 23, 60 and 12 and keeper Dinesh Ramdin going 12, 24, 12 and 19. It’s a tale of woe which speaks volumes of how much trouble Windies cricket is in.
Today’s batting collapse was like watching my Year 5 primary school cricket team go at it. In the space of 22 overs, WI went 7/76, thats not even acceptable in T20s. Add an extra 55 overs to the equation and you get 17/251.
West Indian cricket is in a lot of trouble, and if nothing is done about it whether it come internally or externally, then we’re going to lose what was once a superpower of world cricket.
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