It was in the middle overs against England, their only defeat so far, that West Indies let the game slip away. Especially in the first half of the middle overs, when they scored just 40 runs from overs seven to 11 in batting-friendly conditions. They had resolved to do better in those periods but never got tested when they played USA.
Middle overs is also where Chase might have a role to play. Just to be able to stay busy and not starve the in-form hitter of the strike. “Easy for me because my job is just to give them the strike and let them hit it for six,” Chase joked when asked how it was playing in a team full of power hitters. “So that’s right up my alley. I guess that’s why I’m pencilled in at 4 to just be that transition between the boundaries and just keeping the strike rotated as well. Because I find that most of the time the boundary hitters, they usually hit boundaries, but then they may get a few dot balls. And then it equals out the equation. But if you have me there just to stroke it around and look nice, that’s good.”
If he hasn’t batted till the 10th or the 11th over, though, Chase’s role is likely to be restricted to bowling in the middle overs and fielding at backward point, where he pulled off a stunning catch against USA. “If I see 10 overs come and I haven’t gone up there yet, I just keep my eyes on Rovman [Powell, the captain] all the time,” Chase said. “Once I see he give me a look, I go, yeah. Yeah, it’s for the better of the team. And the guys go out there and execute and give it their all. I’m happy with that.”
In the absence of Brandon King, West Indies are now likely to open with Shai Hope, who was tried in the Chase role once earlier during the tournament. If Hope bats through into the middle overs, he is not the one to get bogged down. Undefeated South Africa are not the usual South Africa unit that used to stall in the middle overs. They in fact choked out England in the middle overs in the last match. Don’t be surprised if this contest comes down to the middle overs.