PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – On yet another occasion, the mental brittleness of West Indian cricketers, the batsmen in particular, has been demonstrated as the major weakness in the team performing consistently at a high level. After winning (even though they tried desperately to lose their first game against India) their first two games in the tri-nation series with India and Sri Lanka the West Indian batsmen simply could not apply themselves to the not-too-difficult tasks set them by the two Asian teams. All of Gayle, Samuels, Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Smith, Sammy and Ramdin consistently gave away their wickets to thoughtless and suicidal shots. In the instance of Gayle, Pollard and Samuels, one false stroke looked much like the one of the previous innings. Sammy showed that he knows of one way to bat: lunge his huge frame and bat at the ball in great hope, completely oblivious of the circumstances of the game and what could be possible. In two of those games, specialist bowlers Roach, Best and Narine showed up the lack of temperament and strategic thinking on the part of the senior batsmen. Only young Johnson Charles and Darren Bravo made at least two useful scores each even though they too succumbed to the non-thinking disease of throwing the bat in cavalier fashion. All of the players look good when exercising what is universally known as the flair and creativity brought to the game by generations of West Indian players.
