Romario Shepherd might be back in maroon on Monday night. The all-rounder has spent the past week on the physio’s table, but a couple of lively net sessions at the Wankhede have moved him close to selection for West Indies’ first Super Eight match, against Zimbabwe.
The surface will be familiar. Tournament organisers have opted to reuse the strip that staged India v USA in the group phase. By the time the Super Eight begins there will be some wear, yet it is still expected to encourage stroke-play – something Shepherd managed in style during training.
He batted with a cumbersome strapping running from right knee to calf, but the restriction barely showed. Several balls were launched clean over the stadium roof; one front-foot swat over long-on drew a ripple of applause from team-mates behind the nets, followed by a sheepish little shadow-bat from the man himself.
Head coach Daren Sammy sounded upbeat. “He practised well yesterday. Bowled quite well, you know, hit the ball very, very cleanly,” Sammy said. “The good thing for us is that everybody is available for selection. Going into the Super Eight, that’s what you want. So I’m glad to know and happy to know that all my soldiers are ready to go out to war.”
Shepherd’s last appearance was on 11 February, when he tore through Scotland to claim 5 for 20, including a hat-trick. On Sunday morning he was again among the earliest arrivals, sending down half-pace then full-tilt deliveries without obvious discomfort. If the knee holds, West Indies gain both middle-order muscle and a reliable death-overs option.
Across the aisle Zimbabwe have earned their spot via a string of tidy, under-stated performances. Sammy understands the mindset of a side few people tipped. “Zimbabwe missing out the last [T20] World Cup, you know,” he said. “They are led well. Sikandar [Raza], very confident, he leads by example. And they’ve got six fans in the stands who sound like one million. So there are a lot of things that go for them. And I could understand from that standpoint where nobody gives you a chance – how you could use that as inspiration.”
The sides have met only four times in T20 internationals; West Indies lead 3-1. The solitary Zimbabwean win came 16 years ago in Port-of-Spain, where a target of 105 proved sufficient on a slow surface. Sammy played that evening, Ravi Rampaul too – the latter now on the coaching staff. Those memories, he suggested, keep a squad grounded.
Later Sammy was asked for a view on the pre-determined seedings that decide Super Eight groups – a talking point among supporters. “That’s not my thing,” he shrugged, before indulging a quick explanation. “I guess if you take the logistics that come into it, trying to give the fans who probably travel an opportunity to plan ahead. Ideally, I think the big thing for most people is they say, oh, West Indies came out of the group. Oh, Zimbabwe came out of the group. That means somebody they seeded there did not come out. Zimbabwe did what they had to do.”
He added that such seedings can also be a spur for so-called outsiders. “If we were not seeded or so, and I saw like this person is going to play there, that gives me motivation. And I’m pretty sure Zimbabwe, looking at that group there, gave them motivation and inspiration to come out and play the way they play.”
For now West Indies’ focus is solely on an old-school Monday night contest. If Shepherd’s knee behaves, expect that trademark long-handle swing and a heavy ball at the death; if it does not, Zimbabwe may sense the slightest crack.
