West Indies, What Are You Going To Do About Legend Devon Smith

“Wanted: a strong back-foot/front-foot, dependable Test batsman with temperament.

Necessary: the ability to rotate strike and play Test cricket as Test cricket.

Must-have: the consistency to strike the fifties

Avoid: Making a joke out of West Indies opening order”

Any leading newspaper- Jamaica Gleaner, Guyana Chronicle, T&T’s Newsday may want to run this advertisement, provided it is deemed relevant by the one and only West Indies cricket board.

It’s been a while since Kraigg Brathwaite got the due respect he deserves. Not appreciation at striking a dogged hundred; that he has in plenty. But an opening partner at the other end.

No, Kraigg Brathwaite is no Rohit Sharma, Mark Waugh, Saeed Anwar or Alistair Cook. But he’s the workhorse of the current West Indies team.

Surely Devon Smith is not. Or is he?

And you know what- it’s been a while since Kraigg stood in sheer awe at the other end to applaud a mighty century by his partner. And if that sounds out of context, then has he even found a reason to celebrate a determined half-century?

In all probability, Gayle’s not going to return to fill in the massive void at the top-order that exists. This is, despite a dainty left-hander occupying the slot. Darren Bravo being not around even as the chance beckons is another concern. Kieron Powell has made a name for striking beautiful 20s and valuable 30s. Then, his train stops all of a sudden.

There’s reason to believe Kraigg’s troubles may continue.

And in those troubles rests West Indies’ biggest problem of modern day sport, besides horrendous, often spineless running of the board. Leave aside fans, how can those who run the side expect it to work up a redemption if the top order is at best, fidgety and functional on rare occasions?

That is like saying, we will have a 10 floored building but with a weakened, unsolid ground base.

What do you fans think?

In West Indian cricket culture, the opening batsman- kindly treat Kraigg Brathwaite who just scored back-to-back centuries and completed 3000 Test runs- is a myth.

Rather, he is an urban legend.

In the Caribbean game-plan, a dependable opening batsman who can give solid starts, lay the foundation and, form the crux of top order’s scoring doesn’t exist on the crease. But does on Youtube hits of Greenidge, Haynes’ innings or at least on the Playbox.

Those who recalled Devon Smith surely called him back in good faith. That he would score runs wasn’t alone the criterion for selection of a batsman who despite being on the horizon for a decade, hasn’t scored a single Test score of 150, let alone reach an average of 35- the bare minimum standard of operation you expect from a normal opening bat.

His role, one hopes spelt clearly to the Grenadian was to keep the pressure of scoring off from Kraigg Brathwaite and to occasionally indulge in scoring blitz.

But did he do that?

I am not qualified to suggest whether he did that or he didn’t. The last I held a cricket bat was when I didn’t and chose to watch professional cricketers do on live TV.

But here’s what I could note as you fans may also have.

Devon Smith produced from 9 innings, which means 5 Tests, the following scores:

7 and 20 from Port of Spain, followed by 1 and 61 at Gros Islet, 2 and 0 at Bridgetown and finally, 58 at North Sound, followed by 2 and 16 at Jamaica’s Sabina Park.

At around the same time, his partner at the other end- Kraigg Brathwaite- salvaged two fighting hundreds, both in meaningful causes for a visibly improving West Indies.

When a cricketer breaks in a contest- he’s best advised to make it count. But when he makes a comeback, in all likelihood, it indicates- a first chance at excelling has been spoilt and done away with.

How then Mr Devon Smith manage to contribute a golden duck and conjure two scores of 2 is something he may excel at explaining. For no Sherlock Holmes or investigative ace hired from an agency with a penchant for solving sporting cases may sufficiently explain.

The problem with West Indies at present isn’t Shai Hope or Roston Chase not being their usual consistent, determined selves alone. It could be argued that maybe the side aren’t realising, they’re burdening Kraigg Brathwaite with the task to make up for what the rest don’t do; i.e., score their share of runs.

This isn’t just harmful.

It’s catastrophic.

When Roach picked up an unlucky injury, he had Holder to take care of things. Gabriel was in hot form at the other. For a Bangladesh who at best, were loose cannons in the 5-dayers, this was enough.

That Cummins hardly produced a laudable effort didn’t seem to matter. But you know what might matter? In their forthcoming tour to India, later this year- Jason Holder, Stuart Law and those ‘running the show behind’ will come to realise just how badly they’ll need a capable batsman up top to negotiate unfamiliar, sub-continental pitches.

Let’s do a quick rewind to 2011, the last when a Windies batsman produced formidable innings.

Darren Bravo- arguably the best handler of spin, way ahead than Samuels and the most proficient since Brian Lara and Chanderpaul burst with a 166 at Mumbai. It was a pace-friendly wicket. Then, India’s fastest bowlers were Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron- both of whom are as out of the current scheme as the man who could’ve been a ‘Lara in making.’

That, this time around, there will be Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Chahal and who knows- even Axar Patel or Ravichandran Ashwin- the West Indies run the risk of being reduced to being ‘Worst Indies’ by India.

That finding a frontline opener is not simply vital, rather warrants enough meat to be declared as West Indies’ national emergency. Else, it might simply be Kohli’s all-round team vs Jason Holder, Shanon Gabriel and Kraigg Brathwaite. And should that happen- it may not work well for TRPs or Windies fans, self-included, like most of you who are reading the piece.

That, Shai Hope and Roston Chase failed miserably against SL and Bangladesh speaks itself of their existential crises. Shot selection is their greatest demerit. But when will they get back to scoring is something Nostradamus isn’t around to predict.

In that time, having seen the magnitude of talent and abilities of Devon Smith- maybe the ball is in West Indies’ court to take a call on Smith. And thus, sort out the mess of poor batting.

Even from the standpoint of resurrecting a team that still very much boasts of a talent pool- sadly most of them making their presence felt in Canada T20 leagues (in all due respect)- why shouldn’t the Windies want to make their batting order flourish once again as it did?

There’s no reason why Windies cannot be a force in contention?

Hope and Chase- the usual forces- are around as are Evin Lewis, Russell, Rovman Powell and bright youngsters who are sadly not being contested one bit- Cornwall and Alick Athanaze.

But there’s every reason to think those who are running the game aren’t applying themselves hard enough.