In cricket, a common saying concerning batsmen that’s stuck all these years is that- you’re only as good as your last or most recent knock. The rest, above anything else, is hyperbole.
But then what’s the famous saying for captains? Maybe, that the mark of a true captain is one who leads by an example. Too cliched, no? Yawn-inducing, too perhaps!
Truth is, the mark of an actual successful captain is one who is able to get the best out his men, the other ten men in the side.
And where that benchmark is concerned, then it appears West Indian leader Rovman Powell has succeeded so far. He has utilised Akeal Hosein, the team’s highest wicket taker so far and the best specialist spinner to the best of his ability. It was the captain and the coach’s idea to let Hosein open the Windies bowling innings.
Powell put his encouragement behind the opening pair of Charles and King and while together the duo is still to fire big, as individuals, both have delivered two vital knocks; while King got going in his campaign opening game against PNG, Charles top scored for the side against Uganda. Powell also supported and rallied behind Andre Russell, who truth be told, is still West Indies’s biggest match winner on pure experience. Powell was there to shoulder support to Andre Russell when from the onset of 2021 World Cup it became apparent that the fiery Jamaican still wanted to contribute in a West Indian jersey.
But while so much that Powell has done right, there’s that key area, a critical component of his cricket where he is yet to typically impress as far as the current 2024 World Cup campaign is concerned.
And going by the earlier definition of a successful captain who leads by an example, Rovman Powell maybe hasn’t done that with the bat for his team. What’s interesting in this scenario is that in both his outings with the bat thus far, Powell got off to a start, albeit not a flyer, but couldn’t really capitalise ahead.
Upto this point, Powell has spent just 32 deliveries out in the middle. His cumulative returns with the bat being 38 runs. This seems to suggest that the West Indies white ball T20I captain has scored at a strike rate of little over 101.
While surely, when talks surround someone like Rovman Powell, technical skills and adaptability to different or challenging surfaces certainly don’t merit a lot of discussion. The key talking points with reference to the right hander’s batting become his belligerent hitting and the ability to subdue pace and slay spin.
So far we have seen some of it, merely fleeting moments as one would say. Powell is yet to play that big T20 2024 World Cup inning of the kinds that could for instance inspire someone like a Brandon King and Nicholas Pooran up top the order.
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Moreover, while we know that Rovman Powell can hit the ball a country mile giving it a good smacking, it is the inability to stay on the wicket for slightly longer periods of time that has hurt his chances. In the West Indies’s comprehensive win against the Ugandans, Rovman relished hitting a 107-meter six.
But imagine, for instance, him staying put at the wicket for a duration of 107 odd deliveries?
We do know that his batting oscillates between the volatile and the belligerent. We also know that he can quickly up the tempo of an inning and often, when it’s going nowhere. But can Powell assert himself over his opponent by being a touch more patient?
Can the famous byline by which the West Indians are known, that being the big hitters pave way for being intelligent manipulators of the ball?
Rovman Powell, in that regard, should lead by an example.
His T20 World Cup record thus far reads- 3 matches and 39 runs with an average of 13 where the 2022 campaign is concerned. Surely, the honest Jamaican is a far better player than that.
Don’t you agree?