PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — As the West Indies close a difficult chapter in their Test calendar, former fast bowler and respected commentator Ian Bishop has signaled that a defining decision looms for Cricket West Indies (CWI): whether Roston Chase should continue as Test captain.
With no red-ball cricket scheduled for the next six months, Bishop believes the pause presents both an opportunity and a reckoning for a leadership experiment that has faltered since its inception.
A year ending in familiar disappointment
The West Indies’ final Test assignment of the year concluded with another setback, a 2-0 series loss to New Zealand. It marked the team’s third consecutive Test series defeat in 2025, following a 3-0 home whitewash by Australia in July and a 2-0 loss to India in October.
Chase, appointed Test captain in May, led the side through all three reverses, an unenviable introduction to leadership at the highest level.
Captaincy and collapse: Chase’s numbers under scrutiny
The early returns on Chase’s captaincy have been stark. In 16 innings as Test skipper, the 33-year-old is averaging below 14 with the bat, recording nine single-digit scores and managing a highest score of just 44. His struggles deepened in New Zealand, where he averaged only seven across the three-match series.
His bowling has offered little compensation. Chase is conceding nearly 71 runs per wicket and delivering more than 17 overs for each dismissal, figures that underscore a broader decline in impact.
Time as an ally and a Test
With the West Indies not scheduled to play another Test until a two-match home series against Sri Lanka in June, Bishop believes CWI has a rare window to reflect, evaluate, and act.
Speaking on iSports i95.5 FM on Saturday, Bishop emphasized that the most urgent question is not leadership, but selection.
“Roston by his own admission has struggled big time with the bat and it still bemuses me that a guy who can score five Test match hundreds in his first 20 or so Test matches has reached this point of his career at age 33 where he’s struggling to put even moderate innings together.”
Bishop argued that the captaincy debate is secondary to Chase’s ability to justify his place in the XI.
“So, the West Indies are fortunate in that they have five or six months before their next Test series to try to determine whether Roston is capable first of all of holding his place in the team and whether he can continue, so that’s their decision to make,” he said.
Leadership still a work in progress
Bishop did not limit his assessment to Chase’s batting alone, noting that neither his bowling nor his tactical growth as captain has progressed as hoped.
“His bowling hasn’t really fired in the way that he would have hoped and he’s still not as sharp in terms of the captaincy strategically as I was hoping that he would reach, but again, they have five or six months to make that decision as to whether he continues.”
A bigger problem than the captain
For Bishop, however, the issue extends well beyond one player or one role. He cautioned that constant changes at the top will mean little unless the West Indies address their developmental pipeline.
“But it’s more than the captaincy. For me the big thing is how we develop batters around the Caribbean. How do we fulfil Alick Athanaze. You’ve got one or two other young guys around the Caribbean and how do we bring them to maturation, otherwise we’re going to chase leadership, we’re going to change coaches, and the results still won’t be what we expect,” he added.
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