Cricket World Cup 2011 Preview: West Indies

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In news that will shock nobody, the West Indies have announced an highly talented side to head to the Cricket Globe Cup 2011 in the subcontinent. Like so a large number of Windies teams in the past fifteen years, this squad holds an extraordinary amount of promise, but it is completely unsure whether or not they will even make it into the second phase of the tournament.

Joining captain Darren Sammy in the squad are names such as Chris Gayle, Dwayne and Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Shiv Chanderpaul, Kemar Roach and the returning Ramnaresh Sarwan. Having said that, whilst this list represents a potentially outstanding core, the West Indies are likely to be as brittle as ever. A great deal of the trouble stems from the difficulties surrounding central West Indian contracts, which appear to be less than assured, and have seen important players represent T20 franchises just before the national team. Furthermore, a lack of comptetitive cricket in recent times, partly due to a washed out series in Sri Lanka, means that the Windies have had hardly any time to 'gel' as a unit.

Another prospective problem, as noted by cricinfo, is the current form of important player Ronny Sarwan. Once a mainstay in the team, Sarwan has been out for a time with injuries and poor form. Although he is now over 30, Sarwan is nonetheless 1 of the key players, averaging over 43 in ODI's. The plight of the team is further hindered by the bowling stocks, which do feature Roach, but also include the likes of Ravi Rampaul and un-tried Andre Russell (hardly names likely to make top batsman shake in their collective boots). It remains a mystery to me why Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor stay out of the side, but if you paired them with Roach and the fine spinner Sulieman Benn, you would have a quite respectable bowling line-up.

These issues aside, the Windies could still prove to be competitive. It's a tired cliché, but on their day they can beat anyone. It is a long time given that Ian Bradshaw and Courtney Browne hit the winning runs to give the Windies the 2004 Champions Trophy, but with the ideal quantity of luck, and astute preparing and selections, there is often an outside chance that they could acquire themselves holding aloft a key trophy again.

West Indies Squad: Darren Sammy (cpt), Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith, Sulieman Benn, Nikita Miller, Carlton Baugh (wk), Andre Russell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Shiv Chanderpaul, Adrian Barath