The thrilling victory by the West Indies over England in the final of the World Twenty20 can hopefully revitalise their efforts in cricket’s longer forms, says David Hussey.
A masterclass from Marlon Samuels and power hitting from Carlos Brathwaite, which resulted in four consecutive sixes off Ben Stokes in the final over saw them sneak home with two balls to spare.
“T20 cricket is probably perfectly suited to the West Indians,” said Hussey on SEN Breakfast with Frank and Ox.
“They like their short form, the fast pace and they like hitting the ball out of the stadium.
“Hopefully this is like the injection they can get into their shorter form, as in 50-over competitions and Test match cricket as well.”
Stokes was excellent with his death bowling throughout the tournament, but Hussey questioned the lack of bowling variety as Brathwaite got into a good rhythm.
“Anything over 13’in the last over I think is in the bowlers favour or the fielding teams favour. You never expect to hit like two sixes in the last over let alone four,” he said.
“Stokes as you said has been doing it (bowling at the death) for the whole tournament for England and that’s his go-to and he owns it, and sadly for him and the English supporters he didn’t quite execute.
“I was more concerned about the tactics they played. Generally when you get hit for a six first ball you change it up, bowl a wide yorker or a slower-ball bumper, something that the batsman is not expecting and you just move the field subtly in order to change the batsman's thinking.
“It seemed to be the same ball over and over again and that got Carlos into a nice hitting routine.”
He feels the standard of tournament, shows it has a future as a permanent international fixture.
“As the tournament showed anybody can beat anybody on their day. Afghanistan beat the eventual Champions the West Indies through the qualifying series,” said Hussey.
“Full credit to the West Indies…they played very high risk, high reward cricket.”