Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard: all boast the ability to strike them big and turn the tide in their team’s favour in an instant. And yet, even with a bevy of power hitters to rival any nation in the world, West Indies find themselves languishing ninth in the ODI rankings, with their boom-or-bust approach coming unstuck more often than not. Remarkably, their 3-0 sweep against Afghanistan last month marked their first series win since October 2014, two World Cups ago.

Though their were positive signs on their tour of India, the scoreline told a familiar tale, with the tourists slipping to a 2-1 defeat. The second ODI at Visakhapatnam was, in many ways, a typical batting display, with the Men in Maroon remaining ahead of the opposition’s progressive run-rate for large parts of their innings, but still slipping to a heavy 107-run loss, with 6.3 overs unused.

Standing tall all the while has been Shai Hope, who top-scored in the failed chase at Vizag, as he did in the final game of West Indies’ series win against Afghanistan, his 109* sealing a nervy chase of 250. Another match-winning century followed in the first game of the India series, and while his final-game 42 wasn’t enough to bring about an upset, it did put the seal on a glorious 2019 for Hope, with him aggregating 1,345 ODI runs at an average of 61.13, only behind Rohit Sharma’s tally of 1,490 runs and Virat Kohli’s 1,377.

Shai Hope now has 11 ODI half-centuries in 2019. Only one West Indian has ever hit more in a calendar year – Viv Richards in 1985.

What a talent!#INDvWI pic.twitter.com/xCQW23FHTX

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) December 15, 2019

That Cuttack knock also saw Hope pass 3,000 runs in the format, becoming the second-fastest to the milestone in terms of innings, after South Africa’s Hashim Amla, and two digs quicker than Viv Richards. His average of 52.75 sees him sit among the top five in the 3,000-run club, alongside Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Michael Bevan and AB de Villiers. And yet Hope rarely receives the accolades reserved for some of the other modern masters, despite having to contend with carrying a struggling team while still churning out the runs.

While Hope hasn’t managed to find the same success in Test cricket since, it did set the blueprint for an ODI method which has paid rich dividends of late – since the start of November 2018, Hope has more hundreds than anyone except Rohit, and more runs than anyone full stop. So why isn’t he spoken of in the same breath?

His strike rate undoubtedly has something to do with it – at 74.32, it’s something of a throwback. But it might also be exactly what West Indies need. A prime example came during the run-chase in the first ODI at Chennai, when Hope’s sedate century provided the bedrock for the flamboyance of Shimron Hetmyer to flourish. The keeper batsman had consumed 147 balls for 91, before killing the contest with a six and a four off Deepak Chahar, bringing up his eighth ODI century in the process. The partnership scoring rate though finished well above a run a ball. It was, in every way, perfectly paced.

The 26-year-old could be to West Indies what Joe Root is to England, Williamson to New Zealand and dare we say what Virat Kohli has been to India. He provides that solidity which West Indies have been long missing, ever since the days of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan. It might not be enough by itself, but just because Hope can only be part of the solution doesn’t mean he’s part of the problem.