The South Africa – West Indies February 20 – March 4, First Test at Centurion Park ended within
its first three days with the visitors crashing to defeat by 87 runs. The victory which gave the hosts an unassailable 1-0 lead in the two-Test Series, was the direct result of yet another supine display by the West
Indies batsmen.
In the Test’s two completed innings, there were only a couple of scores of over 40, the acknowledged pass mark for Test match batting. Raymon Reifer’s 62 in the first innings and Jermaine Blackwood’s 79 in the second
were the only scores of satisfactory note among the West Indies batsmen’s respective contributions.
Apart from Reifer and Blackwood of particularly grave concern would be the provided scores of the West Indies two other middle-order batsmen, Roston Chase and Kyle Mayers. 22 and 18 were the respective contributions of Chase and Mayers in the West Indies first innings. They both failed to trouble the scorers in the second, Chase’s non-contribution of which of the first ball faced variety.
Forty runs scored in four innings batted, Hardly the type of returns from
batsmen meriting their inclusion in the squad. As such they should now
both be summarily discarded for the second Test, with Alick Athanaze
and Devon Thomas being tried instead as their replacements.
Hopefully, Gudakesh Motie will also have recovered from the back strain
he reportedly suffered prior to the first Test and which was sufficiently
damaging as to have ruled him out of selection consideration. He should
come in for the labouring Shannon Gabriel who was the most ineffective
of the West Indies seamers used during the First Test.
With a revised playing XI consisting of captain Kraigg Brathwaite,
Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Jermaine Blackwood, Devon
Thomas, Alick Athanaze, Joshua DaSilva, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph,
Gudakesh Motie and Kemar Roach they West Indies should, hopefully,
do much better the second time around. Who knows, they could quite
possibly surprise their South African hosts with a series levelling victory.