Windies still love cricket, but not necessarily the West Indies - commentator

Chris Gayle - he can't run, but he can strike. Photo / Photosport

Cricket remains the big sporting drawcard in the Caribbean, but attention no longer centres on the West Indian team.

That's the message from Trinidadian cricket commentator Fazeer Mohammed, who told Radio Sport T20 cricket is sweeping past the test and one day formats with the younger generation.

Mohammed said claims other sports such as basketball were eating into the cricketing stronghold were over-stated, but the lure of the Indian T20 league and Australia's Big Bash were overshadowing the once-great West Indian team.

Fans had low expectations of the West Indies in New Zealand, but were shocked at how bad they have been and, in particular, their problems against short-pitched bowling.

"To be quite honest the people are absolutely delighted this debacle is taking place during the festive season so they can be preoccupied with the celebrations and ignore the catastrophic experience in New Zealand," Fazeer said.

"The expectations would not have been high — over the years the West Indies teams have performed pretty poorly in New Zealand.

"With the exception of the Chris Gayle led series in 2008 when both test matches were drawn they have lost 2 - 0 every time over the last four series.

"The last time the West Indies won a test match in New Zealand was way back in 1995 when the likes of Courtney Walsh had a key impact. But I don't think they expected them to capitulate so regularly and poorly as they have done so far.

"To fall apart completely from day one at the Basin Reserve, it really has taken fans by surprise. The really disappointing almost shocking aspect of it is their inability to handle short pitched bowling.

"Neil Wagner - with the greatest respect to him - wouldn't be classified as a tearaway fast bowler, certainly Lockie Ferguson is up there clocking a fair rate of knots...just to see how difficult it has been for them, to cope with fast-medium bowling.

"Anything fairly decent on the line of the body, how inept they have looked in dealing with that line of attack raises a lot of concerns...they are going to cop a lot of it wherever they go in the cricketing world.

"(Positives) are few and far between...really hasn't been a lot to shout about."

Fazeer said fans should be worried about the West Indies even qualifying for the 2019 World Cup — they go to Zimbabwe for a qualifying tournament including the hosts, Afghanistan and Ireland in March.

He was slightly upbeat about their chances in three T20 game starting in Nelson on Friday.

"There is absolutely no doubt the shorter the game gets the better the West Indies are, although it doesnt guarantee they will win a match or the series, " he said.

"Chris Gayle will be one of the key elements. His technique may not be the greatest. Mobility has a question mark — he is not known to be sprinting between the wickets or sprinting anywhere.

"But that power hitting...he might go six, seven, eight deliveries without scoring a run, but in the next six or seven he can get you 28.

"What you will see is a West Indies team which is far more energetic and purposeful than you have seen so far."

When asked if cricket still held sway, Fazeer said: "The younger generation are still very much locked into cricket but it is the T20 format...they dream of playing for the Mumbai Indians or in the Big Bash in Australia before they would even think of playing for the West Indies."

He said outside suggestions young sports people were going to basketball and other American sports "sells well but it is not really the case"

"The biggest challenge is the poor performance of the West Indies team. There is still that groundswell of interest in the game but because of the growth of the T20 and the struggles of the West Indies in the longer format, young cricketers are gravitating more and more to T20."