West Indies need a 'defensive' armoury
Despite compiling 191 against Australia, the ten overs bowled by West Indies before the rains came is sufficient cause for worry
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
Despite compiling 191 against Australia, the ten overs bowled by West Indies before the rains came is sufficient cause for worry. While West Indies have plenty of attacking options with the bat, they need the bowlers capable of defending any target, writes Fazeer Mohammed in Trinidad and Tobago Express. Even champion sides like Brazil (1982) have been found wanting in the past.
It's often said that attack is the best form of defence, an adage most often associated with football. Yet even with all the wizardry and lethal striking talent available, you still have to be reasonably competent in protecting your own goal. Just ask the Brazilians of 1982. That was a side overflowing with creative and attacking options: Zico, Socrates, Falcao, Eder. Yet for all their glorious, flowing football that lit up the World Cup finals in Spain, all it took was the goal-poacher supreme in the shape of Paolo Rossi to three times expose a suspect defence and leave Brazilian dreams in tatters while Italy were lifting the trophy two games later in Madrid.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo