Nicholas Pooran retiring from international cricket at 29 might have come as a shock to fans, but West Indies coach and former player Daren Sammy says he saw it coming.
Sammy, speaking to media after West Indies’ sixth straight defeat on England’s tour, said he is already planning life after Pooran, and even preparing himself to brace for more such retirements.
“My instincts told me something like that would happen,” he said, clearly not blindsided like the rest of us.
“Nicholas sent me a text message, and so did I have a conversation with his agent as well… When we first spoke about the UK tour and the conversation I had with him, I did ask him, ‘Are you unavailable for the UK tour only, or indefinite?’ And from that response, I just knew I had to start preparing for the worst case.”
In all fairness, Pooran wasn’t a sure shot in West Indies’ longer-format games. He never played a Test and last featured in an ODI during the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers. But as West Indies’ leading run-scorer in T20Is and a prominent name in the franchise cricket circuit, his decision to step back – and that too at an age considered prime for a batter – will continue sending ripples for some time.
No one, though, will bear the brunt more than the Windies, whose T20 World Cup campaign next year would have surely been built around Pooran as one of the central figures.
“Ideally, a talent like that, I would love to have him in the team. But I don’t control nor could I control anybody’s careers… I wished him well, he wished the team well. It is [about] trying to move on now from planning a gameplan without Nicholas Pooran. With a World Cup coming ahead, I respect the fact that he told us early enough so we have more time to plan without him.”
Despite making his response pragmatic and respectful, Sammy couldn’t help but relate it to a powerful nudge that he said he gave to the team before the third T20I. He said he played for as long as he did for the sake of the crest and for the West Indies fans who went to great lengths for the sport they loved, being played by their own people.
“Surprised? No, I’m not surprised,” he said.
“I said something to the guys in the team meeting today: we don’t have control. It’s up to each individual. I made my debut in 2004 right at this ground, and I see here today in the stands the same people from 2004 – 21 years ago – the same fans: loyal, coming, bringing food, and everything they’ve been doing that way before I started, for Sir Viv [Richards] and these guys.”
“The passion they have travelling from London, all over, coming to watch us playing – not because we are great, [but] because of the love they have for the game and for West Indies cricket,” he said.
“What it meant to them when West Indies came here back in the 80s with Sir Viv and Clive [Lloyd], and they won games; the feeling it gave them during that era, walking down the streets, going to work the following day.”
“It is up to us, each individual, to understand what the brand and the crest means, and come out and play a brand that those people come and travel three hours to watch you play because of what the crest means to them. It is up to each player to go out and put in that type of passion out there. I could only speak about it, but I can’t force anybody to do it, just like I can’t tell anybody when to call time on their career.”
Still, it’s hard to not notice of the trend that’s setting in among the young cricketers. Pooran is probably the first among several talents who will decide to step away early, Sammy fears, at least.
“I’m pretty sure more will follow in that mood, in that direction,” he predicted.
“That’s the way T20 cricket is now, and especially coming from the West Indies, with the challenges that we face trying to keep our players motivated to play for the crest, so I wouldn’t be surprised.”
And in case anyone thought he was exaggerating:
“You saw everybody talk about Heinrich Klaasen, Quinton de Kock, these guys who’ve retired. It’s out of our control.”
What still lies in his control, at least to some extent, is how West Indies recover from this while also dealing with their on-field form. Their bowling unit has been expensive against England on this tour, leaking 628 runs in around 60 overs in the T20I leg alone.
“It’s a question of skills,” Sammy was blunt.
“When being put under pressure, do we have the skillset to be disciplined with our plans? Do we back our ability long enough? Especially from a bowling point of view, we’ve been trying to search: how do we restrict things when they put us under the pump?”
With a T20 World Cup just over half a year away, they don’t have the time for dilly-dallying.
“It’s a conversation with a World Cup in less than eight months: how do we get our bowling right?” Sammy asked.
The batting, he trusts, isn’t too lacking. It’s the bowlers who seem to be asking for directions at a place they have grown up in.
“I think the batting will be more consistent. They have been over the last two years, but we can’t keep asking our batters to chase down high-200s, and then when we set 190 or 200, our bowling has yet to defend it.”
“But I’m a very positive guy… We have enough time and games to put a combination together that could help us be successful.”
The problems, for West Indies, are many. But Sammy and those fans in the Caribbean who will give up on plenty to see their team so much as struggle playing this game, aren’t ready to quit just yet.
