Andre Russell: The unique enigma who cannot be indulged any longer

NICK HOWSON AT OLD TRAFFORD: The West Indies' troubles have correlated with the issues experienced by their allrounder, who has struggled to reproduce his T20 form in the 50-over game

You won't get a better illustration of the West Indies' World Cup campaign than watching the injury-prone, misfiring, irrelevant Andre Russell during the last couple of weeks.

Thanks to a long-running knee problem, the man top of the T20 Player Index was not involved in the match with New Zealand at Old Trafford.

The 31-year-old has not finished a game during this tournament without some kind of ailment. Thanks to various tumbles in the outfield and on his follow-through he has spent more time on the floor than Anthony Joshua.

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West Indies are not the only team who have selected players who are either past their best, unfit for the task at hand or unwilling to play with strategy or discipline. The unfortunate aspect is they might just have ticked all three boxes with Russell, when it comes to 50-over cricket.

There is no doubting what Russell did in the Indian Premier League. The most sixes (52), the best strike-rate (204.81), the third highest average (56.66) the fifth most runs (510) and five of the 20 biggest maximums. With the ball, he took 11 wickets at 26.09.

Such is the volume of T20 cricket played across the planet, our expectations of what is possible in the List A game has been warped. Fifty-over matches are merely two-and-a-half T20s. It is merely a case of read, repeat rather than developing a fresh strategy. Test cricket is not a million miles away either.

^{Andre Russell has struggled to get through matches at this World Cup}

Russell has unwittingly become a victim of such assumptions. The best T20 player on the planet, it is presumed, should make a mockery of the lengthened format with an unconventional, clinical game. But what has been exposed is cricket is still a game of strategy, tactics and having a calculated approach.

West Indies and Russell have become the definition of lacking a calculated attitude. If T20 used to be about having a hit and a giggle, then the last laugh is being had at Russell's expense.

It is quite clear that while Russell has the unorthodox skills to excel in brief spells of a three-and-a-half-hour game, he is found it much harder to transfer that in the 100-over arena. With the ball he can barely make it through two spells, while with the bat, building an innings in keeping with the situation appears to betray his instincts. A career average of 27.21 with the bat and nearly 31.84 with the ball is an indication as to his success.

^{The allrounder on the floor has been a regular sight}

Having been injured for many of his early appearances in the competition, maybe the Windies have decided that indulging Russell further is not worth the trouble.

Prior to the opening match against Pakistan, he had played just one ODI in over three-and-a-half years, partly due to picking up a 12-month ban for an anti-doping whereabouts violation, and with the T20 World Cup not until next October it is possible we won't see Russell in maroon again for over a year.

It might be his favoured format, but the West Indies should be ruthless in their selection policy for the tournament and ensure they are selecting a player fully fit and able to perform at the levels we all know he can.

Following Cricket West Indies' recent restructuring, it is possible that star names will not be automatically parachuted into the team.

Either way, there is an argument that he should be mollycoddled no longer.

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