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When Roston Chase dived forward at deep midwicket to snaffle the low catch offered by Adil Rashid, England were still all of 30 runs short of the West Indies’ challenging 196.
And just like that, with Nepal and minnows Italy still to be faced, Daren Sammy’s unfancied squad had solidified their place at the top of Group C and put one foot in the 2026 T20 World Cup Super Eights.
Photo: Getty Images.
Almost certainly, Wednesday’s win also reduced the number of doubters who scoff at Sammy’s suggestion that Shai Hope’s side, ranked number 8 among the 20 qualifiers, have a realistic chance this year of capturing a third T20 World Cup title.
Chase has a lot to do with it—not just his splendid catch but his overall performance. In fact, I would argue that Chase’s very selection in the playing XI was a contributory factor to new optimism about how the team will fare.
But it wouldn’t be the first time the Maroon Men have flattered to deceive.
Photo: Getty Images.
In the 2016 edition, they did not. After the Sammy-led side qualified for the semis, England’s Mark Nicholas dismissed them out of hand as non-contenders. They had, he argued, “no brains”.
In the final, more than most, Marlon Samuels (85 off 66 balls, 9 x 4, 2 x 6) and Carlos Brathwaite (3/23 and 34 off 10 balls, 1 x 4, 4 x 6) made the Englishman eat his words.
Batting at #4, the now discarded Lendl Simmons (82*, 51 balls, 5 x 6, 7 x 4) lit up the semifinal and opener Johnson Charles, one of only two players still in the 2026 squad, slammed two sixes and seven fours in making 52 off 36 balls to see the dark horses past India.
(Copyright AFP 2016/ Punit Paranjpe.)
On the evidence of this year’s first two matches, Nicholas’ laughable claim would be even more ridiculous today.
In the 35-run win over Scotland in the first round, Jason Holder, the only other player retained from 2016, was not called upon to bat but claimed 3/30 in the Scotland innings.
Against England, after left-arm orthodox spinner Akeal Hosein conceded seven to start, he was called up to bowl the second over. Opener Phil Salt mauled him: 6-4-4-6-4-dot!
Photo: Getty Images.
Romario Shepherd replaced the ex-captain and claimed one wicket for seven runs in the fourth over, his only one. Yet, with three overs left and England still 47 adrift, skipper Shai Hope astutely asked not Shepherd but Holder to bowl a second over.
It cost all of ten runs but, much more importantly, it very likely went a long way towards restoring some of Holder’s arguably eroded self-confidence.
Clear evidence of a cricketing brain unconstrained by the demands of here and now.
Photo: Getty.
Chase’s self-confidence has also been boosted. His statistical record might earn him the descriptor ‘binary spinner’ since, in 52 of 60 innings, his wicket toll has been 0 or 1.
He has claimed two scalps five times and three three times, including best figures of 3/30 against Afghanistan in 2019.
The selectors knew that, as Salt’s assault on Holder clearly highlighted, England’s batting line-up can be brutal in the extreme. Yet, they opted to draft the almost 6’ 4” allrounder into the XI in place of the big-hearted Matthew Forde.
Photo: Getty Images.
His final analysis was a decent 4-0-29-2 with nine dot balls.
Pushed up the order after WI found themselves in a spot of bother at 8 for 2, he earlier helped to solidify the innings—contributing a healthy 34 off 29 balls. And he took the fine catch to end the innings!
He must feel he’s a shoo-in for the Nepal game on Sunday. With good reason.
The selectors also asked Shimron Hetmyer, typecast as a finisher in the IPL, to bat at #3.
Photo: Getty.
Left to me, Hetmyer would have been consigned to the dung heap of West Indies cricket quite some time ago. No, it has nothing to do with talent.
But how does one explain the fact that, after he led the regional Under-19s to the 2016 age-group World Cup, he has been continuously overlooked for leadership of any of the regional sides?
Is there any connection to the number of times he has put himself above the team? How many times has he either declined selection on a West Indies squad or, having been selected, failed to show?
Photo: Getty Images.
But let’s be clear: once he is in the squad, he should bat at #3—where you need a batsman who can take advantage of the fielding restrictions to score runs rapidly.
Against England, having blasted six sixes in his match-winning 64 against Scotland, “Hetty” added two more in his first ten balls. Then, with the score on 55 for 2 and two balls left in the powerplay, he perished, rashly attempting to pull Jamie Overton for another six.
So the coach, off whose tongue the word “roles” most readily rolls, must find a way to gently but consistently remind him that his next innings begins at zero. Or perhaps that WI are, in spite of former captain Nicholas Pooran’s insistence, neither a six-hitting team nor, worse, a five-hitting team.
Photo: Getty.
How else are we to style the practice of spurning fours and trying repeatedly to clear the ropes but often falling short—into a boundary fieldsman’s waiting hands?
In contrast to Hetty, Sherfane Rutherford, who replaced him, opted for circumspection early on and ended up with an unbeaten 76 and the Man-of-the-Match gong.
So now, having already earned four points, WI will, with a win against Nepal in the Wankhede on Sunday, seal their Super Eights place.
Photo: Getty Images.
Even if it is true that the World Cup squad will yield a stronger team, the opposition will be buoyed by their recent series win.
Uncertain which Nepal will turn up, the side that narrowly lost to England or the one the unfancied Italians whipped by ten wickets, WI must field their strongest team.
For me, that means Forde back in for Chase.
Adil Rashid shipped 42 in three overs with his wrist spin on Sunday—it’s a big ask for Chase to turn in better figures with finger spin.
Photo: Getty.
The key thing is to continue to prioritise flexibility, both in the playing XI and in the batting order.
Sammy’s continuing insistence on “roles” has been sterile. The batsmen must be free to be their best selves in every innings, guided, of course, by their awareness of what the team needs on the day.
If we produce our best cricket and dispose of Nepal as efficiently as we did with Scotland, we should start the planning for the Super Eights—using Thursday’s Italy game to rest Hope, Shepherd and one other and give Jayden Seales, Quentin Sampson and Charles some time in the middle.
Photo: ICC/ Getty.
Without slipping into complacency or overconfidence. And with Sammy stoking the 2016 flames and driving the Maroon Men to strive to keep his title dream alive.
“You may say I’m a dreamer,” he wants to be able to confidently say to sceptics like me, “but I’m not the only one.”
Shared dreams, he will remember from Eden Gardens, have a much greater chance of coming true than individual ones. Everyone must buy in and pull his full weight.
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Earl Best taught cricket, French, football and Spanish at QRC for many years and has written consistently for the Tapia and the Trinidad and Tobago Review since the 1970’s.
He is also a former sports editor at the Trinidad Guardian and the Trinidad Express and is now a senior lecturer in Journalism at COSTAATT.
