Regional 4-Day Tournament requires more intensity for Windies Test team to rise

By Brandon Corlette

Caribbean cricket supporters will witness the best regional players contest in the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Professional Cricket League Regional Four-Day tournament that is scheduled to start December 6, 2018.

The main aim of this tournament is to reveal the bright prospects that will play Test cricket for the West Indies.
Defending champions Guyana Jaguars have been the most dominant team in the Four-Day tournament over the past five or more seasons under Leon Johnson’s captaincy, but few Guyanese players are in the regional Test team.
In the recent Four-Day Tournament, only on four occasions teams have crossed the 400-run mark. Caribbean batsmen in the 2017-2018 season struggled to convert half-centuries into centuries. Veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Jahmar Hamilton, Yannic Cariah and Devon Smith were the batters to score two centuries while Shai Hope and Sunil Ambris scored double centuries.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Cariah topped the batting charts with 691 runs in 18 innings, averaging 43.18. In contrast to other Test nations’ First-Class tournaments, an average of 43.18 is par but the Caribbean’s standard is different. In the recent Test series against India and the first Test against Bangladesh, the inconsistency of batters continued.
Kyle Hope, the second-best batsman in the 2017-2018 tournament, scored 649 runs averaging 49 in eight innings. Kyle, the older brother of Shai Hope, was given his opportunity to play international cricket, but failed miserably. Hope, who made his Test debut in in 2017, played five Test matches batting in nine innings scoring 101 runs averaging 11.22. If Kyle was amongst the top batsmen in the regional Four-Day tournament and failed at the Test level, how much intensity is shown in this tournament?

Devon Smith, the runs machine in regional Four-Day tournaments has been the prime example: succeeding at the regional level and failing at the Test level. Smith has an exceptional first class record, compiling 35 centuries and 58 half-centuries in 200 matches, but his Test record speaks otherwise. After 43 Test matches – 76 innings representing the West Indies at the Test level, Smith scored only one century. Smith’s comparison in regional cricket will leave any individual shell-shocked. In the 2017-2018 season, Smith continued to be the “Daddy batsman” scoring 611 runs in 19 innings, averaging over 40.
Nikita Miller, Imran Khan and Veerasammy Permaul were the best regional bowlers in 2017-2018, topping the wicket charts. Permaul, who has 25 regional five-wicket hauls, played six Tests and is yet to pick up a five-wicket haul.
The West Indies are looking to rise in the Test rankings, but the regional Fourth-Day tournament requires more intensity. With 10 rounds of cricket to be played, batsmen will have some 20 innings to bat and are expected to score five or more centuries in these tournaments.