Alarm bells have long been ringing in the Caribbean over the West Indies’ chaotic buildup to the World Cup and those fears were realised yesterday when the islanders slumped to a four-wicket loss to Ireland in Nelson.
Coming off a thrashing to England and an embarrassing scare against Scotland in the warm-ups, the wheels well and truly fell off at Saxton Oval as Ireland’s batsmen reeled in their first innings total of 304-7 with over four overs to spare.
Few expected West Indies to seriously challenge for the title, but the opening loss could leave the twice world champions in danger of not making through to the quarter-finals from Pool B.
Associate teams have made a habit of upsetting Test-playing nations at the World Cup, with West Indies’ loss to Kenya in 1996 a case in point.
But the Ireland defeat has reinforced perceptions of a team on the verge of collapse and lacking the motivation to do anything about it.
West Indies had already been in disarray well before the tournament, with a crippling contracts dispute between players and the board scuttling what would have been a lucrative India tour.
That dispute cost regular captain Dwayne Bravo, the players’ spokesperson, a place in the World Cup squad along with big-hitting batsman Kieron Pollard.
The captaincy was handed to a rookie in fast bowler Jason Holder, a 23-year-old with about 20 one-day internationals to his name.
Worse was to come with leading spinner Sunil Narine pulling out of the tour, citing a lack of confidence in his bowling action after being cited during a club tournament.
Ireland, meanwhile, will have to qualify for the 2019 tournament when only 10 teams will take part the top eight in the rankings and two qualifiers.
Depending on the results from the qualifying tournament in Bangladesh in 2018, the next World Cup might go ahead without a single associate member.
Striking the balance between encouraging nations where the sport is growing and enduring a string of unsightly one-sided results in the early rounds can be tough.
But the ICC must find a way out. It will be grossly unfair if teams like Ireland have to miss out on the chance to shine on a global stage because of politics within the game’s establishment.
