After the West Indies suffered yet another T20 series loss, former West Indies and Jamaica spinner Nehemiah Perry believes serious discussions need to be had about the future of white-ball Captain Shai Hope and head
coach Daren Sammy.

On Sunday, half-centuries from Alick Athanaze and Sherfane Rutherford weren’t enough as the Windies went down by 13 runs to Pakistan on Sunday in Lauderhill, Florida, to lose the series 2-1.

It’s the second-consecutive T20 series defeat for the Caribbean side after being swept 5-0 by Australia last month. In fact, Daren Sammy’s men have only won four of their last 22 matches over the last 12 months.

Perry, who made 25 appearances for the Windies and 99 First Class games for Jamaica, says Cricket West Indies need to make some tough decisions in the coming weeks to put a halt to the team’s terrible form.

“The West Indies set-up is the only one I know that you lose so many games and heads don’t roll. In any other country, if you lose seven games straight, there’s going to be some sort of discussion as it relates to the way forward,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“There has to be some change and it has to come from somewhere — look at the coaching, look at the captaincy and see what’s happening there. You need to have post-mortem discussions to see what went well, what didn’t go well, what can we improve on, who are the best men for the job and then you look in your set-up and see who has that leadership role or skill that can lead West Indies to glory.”

Perry, however, believes Sammy has been hard done by due to the poor execution of his players.

“Sammy made a statement that he’s not the one out there to execute, and he’s right. Instructions can go out but is it that these guys are capable enough to execute the plan consistently? I don’t think so,” he said.

“I’m not worried about the bowling. They can hold their own but I’m worried about our batsmanship. We need men who can come out and assess a situation and can know what the bowler is trying to do then come through that challenge and be counted at the end of the day. Rohan Kanhai in 1985 said 90 per cent of your cricket is played with your brain and we all rubbished it but he was right.”

Perry says the batsmen must put in significantly more effort if the West Indies are to recapture the success they achieved by winning the T20 World Cup in 2012 and 2016.

“When we look at how the [Pakistan] spin bowlers bowled to us, we struggled. Apart from Athanaze, who was sweeping, slug sweeping, reverse sweeping and scoops, he’s the only one who showed some sort of innovation to spin bowling and it threw them off, even on Sunday,” said Perry.

“Instead of just playing standard cricket shots, we have to be innovative when we have pitches that are turning, you have to can sweep like a Brian Lara and Carl Hooper, coming down the track and hitting the ball over the top. I didn’t see one batsman, apart from Athanaze, who came down the pitch and tried to get the bowler off the lines. These are little things we need to learn but you can’t learn it in a game, you have to learn it in practice because practise makes perfect.”

The Windies turn their attention to the three-match ODI series against Pakistan, which bowls off on Friday in Trinidad.

West Indies white-ball captain, Shai Hope.

A disappointed West Indies Head Coach Daren Sammy after his team went down by eight wickets to Australia in the second T20 match at Sabina Park on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

PERRY… the West Indies set-up is the only one I know that you lose so many games and heads don’t roll.