“Hype does not win Test matches – Taking twenty wickets does!”

Jun 15, 2014 Sports

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Colin E. H. Croft
Reality is a bitch, but as New Zealand’s captain Brendon McCallum confirmed, NZ played almost perfectly in Test No. 1 v West Indies, outplaying WI in every department at Sabina Park.

Whatever happens in Tests No. 2 & 3, WI cannot do much worst.  Much improvement is necessary to be even near par with NZ!
To win any Test, twenty wickets must be taken by a team, regardless of how many runs that team makes.
That win could only come from bowlers being purposeful and focused, while also having batsmen laying foundations with good scores, so that bowlers can have room to maneuver!
WI’s much-hyped bowlers took only fifteen wickets, while NZ’s concentrated attack showed exactly how bowlers should operate on such an adverse bowling pitch, to win by an overwhelming 186 runs!
In Test No 1, WI’s 1st innings bowling effort was way below average; baffling, really; when they should have been straining at the leash, fired-up, waiting to pounce on the rumored under-prepared Kiwis.
Now that Sunil Narine has apparently been included only for Test No. 3 – why not Test No 2 – the bowling attack should improve.  By then, though, it may be too late; the series already lost!
Whatever WI does for the rest of this important, pivotal Test series, its bowlers, especially quickies, must be much better, even if they redeemed themselves slightly in NZ’s 2nd innings!
They must think more on their bowling feet and not just depend on what they had been coached into being.  Especially fast bowling is all about being able to quickly adjust to conditions under-foot!
That pitch at Sabina Park was quite poor, for Test cricket, especially considering the make-up of WI bowling attack, as there was no early pace, only ‘tennis-ball’ bounce and not much for spinners either.
Orthodox left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn’s intelligent, timely, honest overview was spot on!
Sabina’s pitches used to be magnificent – glass-like, ultra-hard, consistent in bounce, extra-fast, slick.   Since my very first visit to that historic Test venue in 1971, representing Guyana in Under 19’s, this was one of the worst pitches ever seen at Sabina to start a Test.
Queen’s Park Oval must offer much more to everyone; bowlers and batsmen; hopefully at least like those pitches used last January for Caribbean 50-overs tournament – bouncy, pacy and turning too – as Test pitches should behave!
But WI’s quickies were also very culpable for NZ’s highly professional 1st innings batting effort in Jamaica.  Recent WI fast bowlers have been so over-coached these last several years at not pitching the ball up to proper, much fuller length, that they could not re-adjust themselves to “driving” length, as was required.
WI’s faster bowlers think that they are quicker than they really are, so too many deliveries were way too short and of no consequence in NZ’s 1st innings!
NZ’s bowling was exactly the opposite; what was called for on that same benign pitch; bowling at fuller lengths, with resounding results, even getting LBW’s!
1st Innings, WI’s quickies were operating at bowling length of their bowling consultant, Sir Curtly Ambrose, while none of them had any of his unusual lift, wrist-zip, or even pace, overall.
Roach looked badly out of kilter and needs much work to return to what we still hope that he could become.
WI Head Coach Ottis Gibson, a former WI opening bowler and England bowling coach, must also agree that the overall WI 1st innings bowling performance was fully mediocre.  NZ should never have made over 500!
WI were in a camp for two weeks, so if the quickies were not heavily pressed there, as they should have been, then how could anyone know if they could cope under real heavy pressure.
Camps are not for pampering, but for significantly hard physical work to bring players to a steamy boil, ready for immediate all-out action.  Players should be pressed to almost breaking point in camps.
Gibson also lamented his team’s batting failure.  That should not have been a surprise!
508-7 was already run-heavy, so if 100-Tests Chris Gayle or 154-Tests Shiv Chanderpaul, under pressure from the get-go, did not score heavily, then the rest of WI’s batsmen, based on recent form, were due to crumble.
Except for Gayle and indomitable “Chanders”, WI’s batting in Test No. 1 was diabolically shambolic.
In 2nd innings, WI did not even muster enough time for an ODI-type existence, falling in just 47.4 overs!
If anyone was paying attention to Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels earlier this year in WI regional 1st class games, they would have known that neither of these had had any scores to talk about!
They were all playing Test No. 1 more on reputations, from memory even, than from recent scores and form.
Why do WI’s selectors sacrifice our players this way on so many occasions?
NZ’s Test debutant, off-spinner Mark Craig, bowled brilliantly, varying pace and flight well for 8-188, easily “Man-of-the-Match”.
One down, two Tests to go, so mammoth and immediate changes are necessary for West Indies.  If they would be made is another story!  Enjoy!

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