Should West Indies go back midway through the Series?

West Indies arrived in Australia with a hope. Hope of redeeming the pride they had lost in the past few years. But they have had a nightmarish start to their tour as they lost the first two test matches. A loss doesn’t hurt if the effort has been made but to loose two matches within three days is a shame. Their performance has been pathetic to say the least and the Australians have made a mockery of this beleaguered West Indian team. Already the former West Indian players have made calls for this team to go back right now to save themselves from further humiliation. With three test matches remaining and a One day series left, the Windies need a lot of motivation, and skill to overpower the opponent. So the question arises, should they go back and save themselves from further remorse or should they stay there, fight it out and salvage what they have lost?

They should go back

When a team tours Australia, they know they have a tough task on hand. Australia is a world-class team and on their home turf, they are simply invincible. When Pakistan toured Australia, they were beaten 3-0 by the Aussies. Indians faced the same agony. Yet there was not a huge hue and cry. The fact that there has been such uproar is because of the manner in which West Indians have performed so far. Even before the match starts, everybody knows the outcome. In such a situation, there is no point in going on and seeing the same result. The technique of the batsmen is pathetic and even someone like Brian Lara has struggled to put the bat to the ball. Score of 50-5 has become a common sight and with three more test matches to go, the final result doesn’t seem any different. Australian batsmen have made good use of some listless bowling and have made them pay for every single mistake. The fielding is a joke in itself as they make mistakes even a schoolboy won’t. Veteran fast bowler Walsh has not looked himself at all. Well, who can blame him for he and Ambrose carried this huge burden for so many years with the hope that some day this team would stop embarrassing? But he is human and even he has been affected by this pathetic bunch of people, who call themselves cricketers. West Indies has given a spate of bad performances this year. Even, when they played against England, they were ordinary. They were bowled out for under 100 runs twice and lost the series. They are not even a pale shadow of what they used to be in the 70s and 80s. At that point, they were absolutely breathtaking and now this team has taken West Indian cricket down to the dungeons. It would be so embarrassing for all those players to see the present team perform so badly. They have been laidback, casual and they hardly make an effort. Jimmy Adams has been in woeful form and this has not helped the cause either. Sending them back would be a perfect lesson for them and would make them think. Well hope it does because they need lots of it. Not only should they go back but also be banned from playing for two years. Its better not to play rather than keep getting humiliated.

They should not go back

There is a very famous saying that ‘ each day is like being reborn. You get another chance to be what you want to be’. Great men don’t let failure deter them from their task. In fact it makes them stronger and hungrier for success. West Indies team might not give a look of fighters but one can be sure, that they hate losing as much as any body else does and it is not fair to tell them to return to their country in the middle of a series. When Pakistan and India lost all their test matches to Australia, no one said a thing. An effort is secondary if the end result is the same. The record books say that Pakistan lost their three matches and India lost their three matches. Then why single out West Indies. Even though they have not been performing well in the last few years but they have shown this spirit of coming back once they are badly down. For instance, they were badly beaten by the Australians in the first match on their own home turf two years ago, but the very next match it was a different story altogether. They went on to win the next one and the third one as well and Lara was instrumental in both the wins. Australian skipper has also said that they can’t take the West Indians for granted as they have the ability to come back. Cricket is a great leveler and what goes around comes around. It is a very bad phase that the Windies are going through and they need some thinking to do. A win might be just around the corner. All they have to do is to be positive. With three matches to go, anything can happen. Even though Australia is a very professional side but it is very natural for them to get a bit overconfident after the easy wins. With nothing more left to lose, West Indies would be looking towards going all out for the kill. Sending them back would do no good to their confidence. Instead, they need some reassurance from their countrymen and fans. The fact of the matter is that they deserve to stay there and fight it out till the last bowl and we, as true cricket fans should hope for the best.