In late 2015 the West Indies toured Australia for a three-match Test series to regain the Frank Worrell Trophy. In all three Tests they were comprehensively outplayed in all facets, though rain saved them from a 3-0 defeat, losing instead 2-0.
Forget the hammering in the Test series; the Windies lost to a Cricket Australia XI by ten wickets in a tour match before the series. The media mercilessly crucified Jason Holder and his men throughout the series, and the West Indies skipper had no choice but to bear the brunt of that force.
Fast-forward to mid-2020 and the West Indies are starting to make some strides in Test cricket following years and years of decline, primarily through their pace bowling stocks. Thanks to Cricket Stats Scholar, who gave me some quality stats on the West Indies pace attack, I was given some numbers from the West Indian pace attack on their last tour of Australia and their numbers from June 2018 onwards.
West Indies pace attack in 2015-16 Frank Worrell Trophy
Shannon Gabriel: one Test – one wicket at 59.00, economy 5.9, strike rate 60
Jason Holder: three Tests – two wickets at 93.00, economy 3.04, strike rate 183
Jerome Taylor: three Tests – two wickets at 128.5, economy 5.58, strike rate 138
Carlos Brathwaite: two Tests – one wicket at 162, economy 3.76, strike rate 258
Kemar Roach: three Tests – 0/247 off 41 overs, economy 6.02
Total: 6/912 off 201 overs, 152 runs per wicket and a wicket every 201 balls
These are all woeful numbers. I don’t think I’d seen an opposition side turn up Down Under and underperform that poorly. Although his numbers were poor, I thought Jason Holder bowled pretty well, offering some sort of control while the rest of his seam counterparts were spanked in Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney. From the disaster Down Under, three seamers from the West Indies team have developed their game and are all quality Test Match bowlers nowadays.
Jason Holder (Photo credit should read Randy Brooks/AFP via Getty Images)
West Indies pace trio since June 2018
Jason Holder: 12 Tests – 60 wickets at 14.08, economy 2.45, strike rate 34.3, six five-fers, one ten-fer (match)
Shannon Gabriel: 14 Tests – 59 wickets at 23.16, economy 3.52, strike rate 39.4, four five-fers, one ten-fer (match)
Kemar Roach: 13 Tests – 46 wickets at 21.80, economy 2.71, strike rate 48.1, two five-fers
Total: 165 wickets at 19.48, economy 2.92, strike rate 40.0, 12 five-fers, two ten-fers
The trio of Gabriel, Holder and Roach have all been phenomenal since June 2018. I remember when Bangladesh toured West Indies for a full bilateral series in mid-2018 and expecting the pitches for the Test series to be slow and low. Boy was I wrong. The West Indies blew away the Bangladesh batsmen with pace and bounce en route to a 2-0 series win. Soon after the West Indies would regain the Wisden Trophy, winning 2-1 at home against England.
Not only have pitches in the West Indies changed to suit fast bowlers, but a change of ball has helped the team. In the West Indian first-class and home international matches the Dukes ball has been used to ensure bowlers remain alive in the game rather than being as useful as spectators throughout a match. And the change of the ball has immensely helped the West Indian pace trio. Add in the youngsters in Alzarri Joseph (27 wickets at 34.03 in ten Tests) and Keemo Paul (six wickets at 31.5 in three Tests, 87 wickets at 18.25 in 21 first-class games) and the West Indies have a potent pace attack that can trouble opposition batsmen, especially with the bounce on offer in West Indies and Australian pitches nowadays.
The batting isn’t that strong, but it’s slowly getting there. Sometimes numbers don’t show how good a player is. Kraigg Brathwaite averages only 33.36 in his Test career so far but averages over 40 with the bat in England, UAE, New Zealand and Australia. John Campbell is a similar mould to David Warner, preferring to take on opposition bowlers. I believe that the nature of surfaces here in Australia will allow him to play his natural game with confidence.
Darren Bravo was the West Indies’ best batsman on the last Windies tour of Australia, scoring a quality hundred at the Bellerive Oval and a dogged half-century at the MCG. Shamarh Brooks stokemaking seems to suit Australian wickets, while Jermain Blackwood and Roston Chase are evolving as Test batsmen nowadays. Add in keeper Shane Dowrich and Jason Holder’s abilities with the bat and the West Indies have a team capable of putting on 300 to 350 on Australian soil.
I would love to see this current West Indian side tour Australia for a three-Test series. With the pace and bounce their pacers generate I would prefer to see the series played on three grounds: Bellerive Oval, the Gabba and Optus Stadium. If not the Gabba or Optus Stadium, play a day-nighter at Adelaide Oval.
The 2021-22 summer is scheduled to be the Ashes, so we’ll probably have to wait until the 2022-23 summer for the West Indies to most likely tour Australia. By then the West Indian pace attack will be at their peak. While I don’t think the Windies would win the series Down Under, their bowling attack would make it an incredibly competitive tournament.
Please give this West Indies side a chance, Cricket Australia. Sincerely, a cricket fan who wants to see Holder and the boys steam in and Test Smith and co on green tops.
Brian
Guest
West Indies last win here was 1997 which is more recent then Pakistan 1995, Sri Lanka never or Bangladesh never
Targa
Roar Rookie
They're supposed to be coming down under this summer. They are 2 tests vs NZ and hopefully it will be a good series.
The real SC
Roar Rookie
The Last time West Indies won a Test match in Australia was back in December 1996. West Indies won the match by 6 wickets at the MCG. Curtly Ambrose (WIN) was player of the match where he took 9/72 in the Test. West Indies will tour in Australia in November 2020. While I don't think West INdies will win in Australia, I would like to see a strong pace attack like Alzarri Joseph. I would like to see West Indies play a Test match in Adelaide for the first time since late 2009. They were very competitive during that test match in City of Churches.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Hi Jon, the FTP is here: https://icc-static-files.s3.amazonaws.com/ICC/document/2018/06/20/6dc2c8d4-e1a5-4dec-94b4-7121fab3cd7f/ICC_Tours.pdf The FTP has been followed almost without variation until early this year; of course Covid-19 may shake things up a little, but given India will have toured twice in 3 seasons come this summer and England are touring the summer after this, I can't see any reason why the Windies and South Africa wouldn't tour in 2022/23. Though I would like to see the Windies for 3 Tests (only scheduled for 2) in addition to the 3 scheduled Tests v South Africa. The Windies only have one week allocated between the completion of their Test tour of Sri Lanka and the commencement of the Tests in Australia; perhaps it could be squeezed at to 10 days to 2 weeks gap, but still not enough for a decent pre-Test tour warm-up here.
Jon Richardson
Roar Pro
It would be great if they could tour again and acquit themselves reasonably well. Good to see that a tour has been pencilled in for 2022-23, according to Jeff’s post. I’m not sure they have the batsmen to put up the scores necessary to escape another thumping, especially if they don’t have many warm up matches. It’s great that the bowling has improved, but I suspect not enough. Australia’s bowling has improved since 2015 - Cummins and Starc didn’t play, and Lyon has improved. Amazing to see Voges’ figures- 2 innings, 375 runs, no outs = no average!
Julian King
Roar Guru
Speaking of the West Indies down under, I'll always remember seeing Roland Holder chatting up a blonde outside the dressing rooms at the SCG. I suspect it's not just cricket fans who would celebrate their return :laughing:
Brian
Guest
The question is whther their best players will play Test cricket. I have no doubt Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell could have been good Test cricketers. Now they have Da Silva, Pooran and Hetmyer who could be good Test cricketers but not sure the money is there to keep them in the system.
Patrick
Roar Pro
I'm not too sure to be honest. At the very least, it ensures you play 6 different teams over a cycle, meaning Australia should play the West Indies more often than they have recently (although admittedly there are no AUS-WI Tests in the current cycle). You make a good point though, it's hard to see CA being forced into playing Bangladesh at home for example, so they probably have more influence than I assumed.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I would have thought that the WTC schedule largely dictates who Australia play, taking the decision out of CA’s hands. You would think but I am pretty sure there is no real schedule that was set up by the ICC, more countries already organised series or new ones by themselves but I do not know that for sure without digging into google so I stand corrected if I am wrong. The WTC is certainly not what you would call a fair competition.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Sorry 2022/23. Anyway the summer after the Ashes, as you were requesting. It's been locked in for a few years. Refer the FTP.
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
So the ashes has moved on to 2022-23 summer?
Jeff
Roar Rookie
The West Indies are already scheduled to tour Australia in 2021/22. Along with South Africa.
Patrick
Roar Pro
Partially agree. As you point out, the West Indian bowling lineup has improved considerably. That said, I’m not sure the West Indies will be as competitive as you suggest. The gulf between the batting of the two sides is significant. We saw New Zealand struggle with the bat last summer, despite a strong bowling attack (minus Santner), and I suspect the West Indies might be the same but worse- no one of the calibre of Williamson, Taylor, Latham. I’m not sure about the whole ‘Cricket Australia should invite the West Indies’ either. I would have thought that the WTC schedule largely dictates who Australia play, taking the decision out of CA’s hands.
Paul
Roar Guru
The West Indies quicks have certainly become a very useful attack, given England in particular some serious hurry up over recent series. As you suggest though, their batting is probably on par with Bangladesh, lacking at least 2 or 3 quality players. They probably have them in the Windies, eg Pooran, but either chose not to pick them or these guys chose not to make themselves available for Test cricket. I think you'll get your wish, but will have to wait till the next Test Championship schedule is announced. Hopefully by then, their batting will have improved to make them competitive in Australian conditions.