Following the retirement of four T20 World Cup-winning West Indies stars yesterday (January 18), former all-rounder Deandra Dottin, who announced her own shock retirement in 2022, has posted a cryptic tweet suggesting something is wrong in West Indies cricket.
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What has happened?
On Thursday, four players – Anisa Mohammed, Shakera Selman, Kycia Knight and Kyshona Knight – announced their retirements from international cricket, much to the shock of the cricketing world. All four were a part of the winning campaign in the 2016 T20 World Cup in India.
Mohammed, who has played for 20 years, retires as the team’s leading wicket-taker in both white-ball formats, while Selman, who made her debut in 2008, went on to play 100 ODIs and 96 T20Is. Both also served as vice-captains of the team over the years.
The Knight twins also emerged as vital members of the West Indies white-ball teams over the years, last representing the side during a T20I against England in 2022.
What does Deandra Dottin have to say?
Dottin, who retired in 2022 after a 14-year-long career, has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to post two cryptic messages that seemingly give an insight into the happenings in West Indies cricket.
🤔 I said this 1 Year & 6 Months ago and no one adhered to what I said , so here it is . Now tell me doesn’t it look like something is wrong ? https://t.co/RCkCldWryx
— Deandra Dottin (@Dottin_5) January 18, 2024
A lot of you talk things about me when I retired on how I did because I wanted captaincy and I didn’t want to play under this and that & what’s not well it is clear now.Things always have there way of showing .DoYouThinkTheyDidThatDueToTheSameReason?#LetGo&LetGod #GodIsInControl
— Deandra Dottin (@Dottin_5) January 18, 2024
Dottin had surprised captain Hayley Matthews by announcing her West Indies retirement midway through the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where she was playing for Barbados. Dottin cited the team environment for her decision: “There have been many obstacles during my cricket career that I have had to overcome, however, the current climate and team environment has been non-conducive to my ability to thrive and reignite my passion,” Dottin wrote in her announcement. “With much sadness but without regret, I realise that I am no longer able to adhere to team culture and team environment as it has undermined my ability to perform excellently.”
Then, there were reports that Dottin, never captained West Indies, did not want to play under Matthews’ leadership.
Since the World T20 win, West Indies fortunes have oscillated. They disappointed at the 2017 Women’s World Cup and the 2020 T20 World Cup, only beating Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the former and only beating Thailand in the latter. But in the 2018 T20 World Cup and 2022 Women’s World Cup they exceeded expectations, making the semi-finals in each event. Matthews, the No.1 ranked all-rounder in women’s T20Is, has emerged as a world-class talent, but has received little support, with Stafanie Taylor the only other West Indian in the top 50 of the batting rankings in either white-ball format.
