WEST Indies had a difficult 2022, which was compounded by a poor showing at the T20 World Cup in Australia. And to add insult to injury, the team ended the year with a 2-0 Test walloping in Australia.
The regional side is again in a period of transition with the exits of veteran players, men's coach Phil Simmons and white-ball captain Nicholas Pooran.
However, there were some highs with Trinbago Knight Riders women’s team creating history in the inagural Women's Caribbean Premier League and an impressive debut Down Under for Tagenarine Chanderpaul, 26, son of West Indies legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
WORLD CUP T20 CATASTROPHE
West Indies, winners of the T20 World Cup in 2012 and 2016, embarassingly did not qualify for the main draw (Super 12s) of the T20 World Cup, after crashing out of the qualifying tournament in October.
West Indies were eliminated after being demolished by nine wickets against Ireland in the qualifiers in Australia.
West Indies scored a modest 146/5 in 20 overs batting first and in response Ireland raced to 150/1 in 17.3 overs at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart.
West Indies needed to finish in the top two in Group B to advance to the Super12s. Instead they finished fourth in the group with one win and two losses.
Before the defeat against Ireland, West Indies lost their opening match against Scotland by 42 runs and got past Zimbabwe by 31 runs.
Zimbabwe and Ireland qualified for the main draw. Scotland also missed out after finishing third.
West Indies were without many of their T20 stars who helped the regional team to the pinnacle of the T20 format.
[caption id="attachment_993685" align="alignnone" width="859"] Red Force pacer Shannon Gabriel bowls against Guyana in the Super 50 Cup at the Brian Lara Academy, Tarouba, in November. - Lincoln Holder[/caption]
Over the past year, a number of senior players have either retired or have not been considered for selection. Former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons and Dwayne Bravo have all retired.
Chris Gayle has not retired, but is 43 years old. Andre Russell and Sunil Narine are still plying their trade around the world but do not seem to be on the same page with Cricket West Indies.
Guyana's Shimron Hetmyer also did himself no favours after missing two flights to Australia. His commitment to regional cricket remains in question.
WHO WANTS TO BE CAPTAIN?
Former West Indies T20 and ODI captain Kieron Pollard announced his retirement from international cricket. Pollard was 34 at the time of his announcement in April.
On Instagram, Pollard said, “After careful deliberation, I have today decided to retire from international cricket. As is the case for many young persons, it was a dream of mine to represent the West Indies team from the time I was a boy of ten years and I am proud to have represented West Indies cricket for over 15 years in both the T20 and ODI forms of the game.”
Pollard was the captain of West Indies since September 2019. West Indies made progress in the ODI format under Pollard. In 17
