Chris Gayle, West Indies’ finally-victorious team, had to calm down an instant after beating England to defend his final-day strategy:
“It was nothing about being negative or anything like that. If you watch the way we have bowled in the last couple of games that’s the way we have bowled. There was no plan to be negative.”
Similar qualms were made when India played against Australia, and M.S. Dhoni insisted on having lopsided 7-2 fields, with balls pitched on the leg-stump. But why is this such a bad thing? We all recognize that teams can and should play for draws in Test cricket when it serves them. Besides, a draw can be downright exciting (and even strategically logical). This is also the whole point of a series: to watch two teams evolve their approach as they size each other up over the course of a month or two. So, win the first, then dare the other team to go all out and win the second or third.
That’s what the West Indies did here, and they shouldn’t have to say it like it’s a bad thing.
[...] we can all agree that the West Indians did not win this series by putting up a commanding performance. But when a team is getting whitewashed regularly and losing at home without even being able to put [...]