Injury hit Windies face uphill battle to beat South Africa in opening Test

Jun 10, 2010 Sports

By Sean Devers in Trinidad
In association with Igloo Ice cream
& Ultra Water

Defeated 5-nil in the ODI series, West Indies will be desperate to win their first Series against South Africa since their 1-nil win in the inaugural one-Test series between the two sides in Barbados in 1992.
This is the fourth Test tour by South Africa to the Caribbean and 18 years after their first, things are so different now.
When the West Indies defended a victory target of 199 to win by 52 runs in that historic 1992 Test, it was really no surprise since the Caribbean team were undisputed the Kings of World Cricket and had not lost a single Test series since their controversial loss to hosts New Zealand in 1980.
Now the show is on the other foot and South Africa begin their fourth Test series in the West Indies from 10:00hrs today at the Queens Park Oval as the firm favorites in the 3-Test series.
West Indies have been struggling since their first Test series loss in 15 years in 1995 and with 7 consecutives defeats to South Africa on this tour (two 20/20 and 5 ODIs) injury to three of their leading players make it even harder for even the die hard fans of the Chris Gayle-led unit to have visions of a series win.
Three draws would please most West Indian fans but without the injured Fidel Edwards, Jerome Taylor and Ramnaresh Sarwan the responsibility of providing a competitive series rest almost solely on the solid batting of the 36-year-old veteran and the team’s best batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
If Chanderpaul is not considered ideally suited for limited overs cricket, he is one of the hardest batsmen to dislodge and his love for batting for long periods of time make Test cricket his ‘cup of tea’ and if fellow left-hander Australian-born Brendon Nash, who posses a similar temperament to Chanderpaul can occupy the crease in the middle order and Skipper Gayle, who has a Test triple century against South Africa, can contribute at the top of the order, the matches should not be entirely one-sided.
Today, Guyana’s 33-year-old Travis Dowlin should open the batting with Gayle while 21-year-old Brian Lara look-a-like Daren Bravo could make his Test debut in front of his home crowd.
Dwayne Bravo, Daren Sammy and Denish Ramdin will also need to support with the bat and the toss up for a middle order spot could be between the younger Bravo and Narsingh Deonarine who scored 82 against Australia in his last Test when he replaced an injured Chanderpaul in the team.
On a track expected to assist the spinners, 27-year-old Dominican off-spinner Shane Shillingford could make his International debut and could play ahead of the temperamental Suleiman Benn if just one specialist spinner is selected.
Kemar Roach will spearhead the pace attack and should share the new ball with ‘home boy’ Ravi Rampaul with the lively Nelon Pascal possibly missing out on a Test cap due to the lack of any real pace and bounce in the track.
While Gayle, Chanderpaul and the hard-working Nash could be South Africa’s main worry, Skipper Graeme Smith will hope that his form returns and that Hasim Amla, AB deVilliers and Jacque Kallis continue their excellent work with the bat.
JP Duminy and Mark Boucher could also be key components in South Africa getting a huge total while even in conditions not expected to be conducive to pace bowling Dale Steyn is one of the quickest in the world and could present plenty of headaches for the West Indian batsmen.
He should receive support from Morne Morkel while off-spinner Johan Botha should enjoy the Queens Park track.
South Africa have only lost 2 of the 10 Test matches between the two teams on Caribbean soil and they beat the West Indies by 67 runs in 2001 and by 8 wickets in 2005 in their only two Tests in Trinidad.
The West Indies have managed just 3 wins and lost 14 times in the 22 Test between the sides and with scattered thunderstorms forecast for Port-of-Spain today, rain could be the biggest worry for South Africa as they attempt to notch up their third consecutive Test victory in Carnival Country.
Squads: (West Indies) Chris Gayle (Captain), Travis Dowlin, Narsingh Deonarine, Daren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brendon Nash, Dwayne Bravo, Denish Ramdin, Daren Sammy, Shane Shillingford, Kemar Roach, Ravi Rampaul, Suleiman Benn, Nelon Pascal.
(S/Africa) Graeme Smith (Captain), Hasim Amla, Mark Boucher, Jacque Kallis, AB de Villiers, Johan Botha, JP Duminy, Paul Harris , Ryan McLean, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Alviro Petersen, Ashwell Prince, Dale Steyn, Lanwabo Tsotobe.

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Injury hit Windies face uphill battle to beat South Africa in opening Test

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