“WI win Test No. 2! That’s more like it from West Indies!”

Jun 22, 2014 Sports

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Colin E. H. Croft
West Indies captain Denesh Ramdin celebrated his first “home” Test, at Queen’s Park Oval,

by leading his much-revamped team, from Test No. 1, to an appreciated 10 wicket win in Test No. 2 v New Zealand.
What a big fillip this 1st win is for Ramdin and present WI cricket.  He, and we, needed that!
Ramdin, though, must note that his primary purpose is as wicket-keeper, whose skills have recently been lauded for excellence.
In both Tests No. 1 and 2, he was very much less so, allowing nineteen byes in No. 1, and thirteen in No. 2, while also dropping a few difficult chances.
Also, captaincy is not only about winning.  All teams want to win, but if properly led, players will react and perform to expected standards, allowing that team to win regularly.
Leadership is more about inspiration and instilling excellence, bringing out the very best from personnel who are led, improving every facets of each player’s inputs, regardless of results, but not with the standard Caribbean bickering, insularity and asinine micro-management.
Positive results do matter, but overall team improvement is more pertinent.
Happily, new WI captain Denesh Ramdin found that out very quickly in Test No. 2!
That is why Clive Lloyd and Sir Frank Worrell are still always revered so highly as former WI captains!
Sir Viv Richards and Sir Gary Sobers captaincy ratings are high too, but, in my mind, less so than those other two superlative leaders.
Especially Sir Viv was given an already “ripe” team; players, including me, already fully matured, at the very top of their game, having been nurtured, massaged and forged from cricketing infancy, by Lloyd.
All of us were ultra-ready, superbly honed and totally confident by the time he became full-time captain.  Hence performances were like mercury, filling all spaces without gaps, always 100% efficient!
Anyway, in this 2nd game of his tenure, Ramdin used his bowlers very well, while his batsmen gave wiggle room.
His fledgling leadership might be just shaping up, but his young stars, especially batsmen, are also coming nicely to the fore.
These are great signs for Ramdin!
Joy to see young pups of our next decade, Darren Bravo and Kraigg Brathwaite, playing at opposite ends of the stroke-making spectrum, taking charge after old fox Chris Gayle had been flummoxed by Trent Boult’s devastating out-swinging “yorker”, 1st innings.  Gayle’s 80 no, 2nd innings, was good revenge!
Sabina’s pitch was such a disappointment that anything produced at Queen’s Park Oval would have been a vast improvement.  So too, happily, it turned out to be!
QPO was sufficiently, consistently, bouncy, especially if faster bowlers put in big efforts, the pitch becoming quicker as the game progressed – Days 2 and 3 – when initial moisture had dissipated.  By Day 4, that bounce was also aided and abetted by improving grip and turn; help for slower bowlers!
Lone specialist spinner, left-arm orthodox Sullieman Benn, used his lanky frame well, delivering from great height, getting extra bounce, while his albatross-like wing-span helped for excellent catching.  Match figures of 5-151 from 86.4 overs were steady rewards for hard work.
Away for over four years, Jerome Taylor is just about getting his rhythm back.  He bowled relatively quickly, even if not yet fully extended.
Especially encouraging for stamina and overall fitness was Jerome’s tremendous efforts in 2nd innings, Days 4 and 5; 30-8-73-2, after a very good 1st innings return: 17-5-34-4.
Kemar Roach is now bowling almost always from just his shoulders, his run-up no more than a mirage.  If he continues this way, he will be, not may be, re-injured in the not too distant future.  He needs to extend his run much more and use that rhythm provided thusly to be more comfortable and productive.
While better than Test No. 1; 2-97 overall; Roach’s returns in Test No. 2; 5-135, were not spectacular.  His ineffectiveness put too much pressure on Taylor and Benn.
Similarly so was Shannon Gabriel, who always seems as stiff as a wrestler trying to bowl fast.
There is no looseness about Gabriel, and WI team coaches should get him running, gazillions of miles, if he is to get that looseness and elasticity that is required to be a good fast bowler.  4-109 was very average for this pitch!
But pitch consistency also allowed for very good batsmanship, if required patience and sense could prevail!
As hoped for after Sabina, personnel changed for the better.
Brathwaite replaced Kieran Powell, while Jermaine Blackwood made his Test debut, replacing fellow Jamaican Marlon Samuels.
Unless he can mount a severe runs challenge in next year’s 1st Class season, that, possibly, was Samuels’ last stand!
To a point, Kirk Edwards, with an un-fluent 55, started the batting recovery, after Sabina, and Blackwood showed signs of confidence, even if raw and airy, for a first Test half-century.
But it was two centuries; Bravo’s 6th – 109; and an excellent, maiden, well-put-together 129 from Brathwaite, that must whet appetites and hopes for WI batting future!
Now it is on to Kensington Oval, Barbados, to try to seal a long-awaited Test series win!  Enjoy!

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