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A unit of amateurs
The first and foremost reason for the Caribbeans' dismal show has been their lack of team effort. This West Indies team looked more as a bundle of talents who are busy playing their own games. Players are more interested in hitting and hoicking than building team totals and complement each other.
There was no focus on building partnerships. The West Indies could have easily won the games against Australia and New Zealand had there been some minimal application as team players. The players in this national team are more an assembled unit of freelancers than team men.
Zero temperament
Second, the temperament. Although lack of temperament is a common problem for world cricket today, the Caribbeans looked to have suffered more from it. The team never looked convincing as a unit that can survive 50 overs.
The temptation to hit almost every ball outside the park could not be resisted while the young players appearing in their maiden World Cup did not look ready to shoulder more responsibilities. None of the top batsmen made big scores (Carlos Brathwaite's hundred came down the order) and that made a big difference between the West Indies and other teams.
Bowling lacked teeth
The bowling was as insipid. Barring the games against Pakistan and somewhat against Australia and New Zealand, the Caribbean bowlers never looked threatening and the failure to make early inroads made things easy for the opponents. Even against India, Jason Holder's bowlers could not restrict India to below 250 despite having their top five in the pavilion and with an ageing MS Dhoni at the crease.
They could not defend a 320-plus score against Bangladesh and lost with almost 10 overs to spare! Even Australia and New Zealand were let off the hooks. None of the West Indian bowlers except Sheldon Cottrell could pick 10 wickets or more in the tournament and went for higher averages. The West Indian attack comprising the likes of Cottrell, Oshane Thomas, Kemar Roach, Holder, Shannon Gabriel and others didn't look too bad on paper. But when it came to delivering, they failed big time.
Andre Russell failed to fire
After his exploits in the Indian Premier League this year, one thought Andre Russell would make this World Cup his own as well. But the Jamaican was almost non-existent in the tournament.
He started off well with two for 4 against Pakistan but eventually, he could play only four matches before getting ruled out for his injured knees. In the four games, Russell scored only 36 runs and took five wickets.
