Fall from Grace

 

 

West Indies among the lowest

Even trailing Afghanistan

That won two of their engagements

And look more like champions.

 

They were an experienced side

With stars passed their battery life

That were brutally exposed

When records did not suffice.

 

Christopher Henry Gayle

The brightest star of them all

Though with his illustrious record

Could not avert this fall.

 

His greatest opponent, I believe,

Was an opponent known as “age”

And clearly Gayle was not its equal,

Certainly not on this stage.

 

Neither Bravo nor Rampaul,

Allrounders Pollard nor Russell

Could stem the effects of advancing time

In this the greatest of tussles.

 

 

The selectors thought it best

To go with experience and age

But except for a single nerve-wracking win

The West Indies were upstaged.

 

Their performance was pathetic

Nothing to shout about

And from the very first match played

They were on their way out.

 

Bowled out for a paltry 55

And though not their lowest ever,

Demonstrated by the way they played

They were not too clever.

 

A narrow win over Bangladesh

Just by a 3 runs margin,

The hopes of the current T20 champions

Definitely looked dim.

 

With Group 1 now completed

West Indies are one from the bottom,

Certainly not what was expected

From the World T20 Champions.

 

 

No doubt this is Gayle’s last

I do hope he hangs up his shoes,

He surely can’t do like he did before

Not at the age of forty-two.

 

With an overall total of 45

And an unimpressive average of 9

Gayle force winds refused to blow

They were only in our mind. 

 

His record is still impressive

As the greatest T20 batsman ever

But to continue at his present age

To me is really not clever.

 

This is indeed a fall from grace

Not because the West Indies lost

But hardly was there any pep in their step

Or in that of the Universe Boss.

 

Stewart Russell © November 6, 2021