“West Indies need to relook the strategy” – says Former West Indies coach Ottis Gibson

Scotland has made Caribbean island upsets at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup by recording a stunning 42-run victory over the West Indies in Hobart on Monday.

Ottis Gibson head of the 2012 West Indies T20 World Cup, believes the Caribbean team may need a rethink of strategy to find success again in the T20I.

“I think what they did in recent World Cups can be done again,” said Gibson, the current head coach of Yorkshire County in England.

“West Indies needed personnel changes —which have obviously happened – but then perhaps the strategy also needs to change.

“They need to look at whether they are getting the best out of the players they have, because in people like Nicholas Pooran and Jason Holder, we have world-class players.”

He continued, “I feel like West Indies is at that stage at the moment where they need to relook the strategy that they’re using with the personnel that they have right now.

“I still feel like they have fantastic T20 players who can be world-class. And when it comes to T20 World Cups, you can never discount West Indies—I don’t believe so.”

This will be the first Men’s T20 World Cup without both Chris Gayle, whose West Indies future is uncertain, and Dwayne Bravo, who has retired from international cricket.

West Indies will also be without Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Shimron Hetmyer, who was recently dropped from the squad after missing a “rescheduled” flight to Australia.

Gibson, head coach of West Indies for the 2012 triumph, said the recall of these experienced players had come at a point when their impact on a “fast-moving” game was already diminishing.

“T20 cricket is so fast-moving. You have to decide how you’re going to win games. T20 games are also won in the field,” Gibson, a former West Indies fast bowler, told ESPN Cricinfo.

“If your squad is aging, then that will catch up with you. That squad was an aging squad. And while experience matters, the game changes very quickly, and you have to be able to keep moving your squad along with the game.”

The West Indies are the only team at the T20 World Cup with two titles to their name, so bowing out in the First Round would not be seen as a good result for the Caribbean side. Gibson said they remained a dangerous side.

“They’ve got world-class players. Hopefully they can find a way to come together as a group and understand how each person needs to play their part,” he said.

“I feel like they’ve got a great chance. Like I said, you can never discount West Indies.”