Countless comments have been made by members of the various Facebook West Indies Cricket interest groups in reaction to the team’s 87-run first Test loss to their South African hosts. Of which at least five recurring talking points, hot discussion topics, seem to have engaged the attention of most fans. In order of occurrence, if not importance, these can be individually identified and their respective merits assessed.
At the very top of the list was the on-field leadership of West Indies “Captain Non-Assertive” Kraigg Brathwaite in both innings of the Test. South Africa’s first innings ended just before lunch on the second day with the hosts having scored 342. There were times during the innings when West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite wasn’t nearly as assertive as he could have been.
Having gotten to 221-1, the South Africans lost two quick wickets without further addition to the score and their fourth just fifteen runs later. Inexplicably though, Brathwaite persisted with his part-time off-spinner Roston Chase at one end, while rotating his seamers at the other end. An all-out pace attack from both ends might have served the West Indies cause much better. Shannon Gabriel, who along with Alzarri Joseph was by far the quickest of the West Indies bowlers was only used for twelve overs in the entire innings, taking 1/49 at the relatively inexpensive rate of 4.09.
Chase by comparison toiled away, unsuccessfully, for fourteen overs which yielded 33 runs. As it was South Africa having lost 5/262 added another 80 runs before they were finally dismissed. No small coincidence that their eventual margin of victory was 87 runs, leaving fans to wonder what might have happened had they been dismissed for much less.
In South Africa’s second innings, Brathwaite’s captaincy was again at times equally baffling in its non-assertiveness. From 5/57 South Africa’s remaining wickets added a further 59 runs, mainly because of Brathwaite’s ultra-conservative field settings which were seemingly more intent on saving runs than taking wickets. Ironically, his widespread field placings, with non one in the inner circle, created sufficient gaps as to allow the South African lower-order batsmen to take very comfortable singles.
Valuable runs were, therefore, unnecessarily granted to South Africa’s lower-order batsmen which in the end came back to haunt the West Indies. Failing as they did to reach South Africa’s modestly set victory target of 246.
The second talking point was far more positive, celebrating as it did Alzarri Joseph finally having broken his apparent threefor curse of not being able to take any more than that number of wickets in a Test Innings. On no less than 11 previous occasions, Joseph had taken three wickets in a Test only to fail to progress any further. It had become such a seemingly inevitable trend that his teammates would have been justified to have started referring to him, affectionately, as ThreesieJo!
Joseph, however, finally put an end to the trend by taking 5/81 off 18.3 overs in South Africa’s first innings. A performance which was a long overdue reward for how outstanding his bowling has been of late.
Hopefully, Joseph’s fivefor will be just the first of very many more to come. In South Africa’s second innings. Joseph’s 2/30-8 was a key contribution to an overall exemplary West Indies bowling effort that managed to dismiss the hosts for a paltry 116.
Along much of the same very positively pleasing line of thinking was the fans’ reaction to Kemar Roach’s own fivefor in South Africa’s second innings. Lately, the beleaguered Roach has not been as prolific with his wicket-taking as he usually is, particularly on overseas tours. The greater majority of Roach’s now 260 Test wickets have been taken in matches played at home in the West Indies.
In his 76 Tests played to date, Roach has so far taken 180 wickets in matches played at home. By stark comparison, the number of wickets he has taken in overseas Test is only 80.
Roach’s first Test second innings fivefor was, therefore, just as much of a welcome return to form as it was his having, at least temporarily, dismissed the myth of him being ineffective on overseas tours. It was also indisputable verification of the maxim about the very best Test cricketers, “form is temporary, class permanent!”
Having taken his 260th Test wicket in Tests, Roach has since moved past the great Joel Garner to assume the fifth position in the all-time list of the West Indies’ top wicket-takers. His outstanding class as a West Indies seamer should, therefore, now no longer be questioned, if it ever was.
With him now being almost thirty-five though, and obviously in the twilight of his career which has already spanned 14 years, it will be interesting to see if he can move up any further in the overall West Indies’ highest wicket-takers rankings. Still ahead of him are Lance Gibbs with 309, Malcolm Marshall 376, Curtly Ambrose 405 and the seemingly untouchable Courtney Walsh with a whopping 519.
Kemar Roach’s outstanding career could, however, with proper cotton-wool selective series engagements handling, very well be extended for quite a few years. Much like England has done with those of its two perennially outstanding fast bowlers, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.
Unfortunately, the same cannot, however, be said about Shannon Gabriel who is even closer to becoming 35 than Roach is with his April 28 Birthday now fast approaching. Gabriel took just two wickets in the first Test, one in each innings. More importantly despite being at his 150 km quickest at times during the match, he rarely ever troubled the batsmen.
Gabriel could very well find himself being replaced by Akeem Jordan, the still uncapped Barbadian right-hand medium-fast bowler. Jordan had an impressive turnout in the one warm-up match the West Indies played before the start of the first Test, taking 3/32.
If Jordan is indeed selected, it could well signal the end of Gabriel’s Test career. Now in its twelfth year. Gabriel’s Test career has, most unfortunately, been punctuated by him being in and out of the West Indies tam largely as a result of injuries or loss of form.
Two other West Indies players whose Test careers could also be at a crossroads, as a result of their respective wholly unimpressive first Test performances, are the aforementioned Roston Chase, as well as his Barbadian compatriot Kyle Mayers.
Chase’s contributions were 22 and 0 with the bat, 0/33-14 overs with the ball, bowling his off-spin trundlers. It would be a major surprise if he is retained for the second Test or even further seriously considered for the West Indies next Series which will be at home against India this coming summer.
Much the same can be said of Kyle Mayers. He scored 18 in the West Indies first innings and like Chase failed to trouble the scorers in the second. His bowling efforts produced his customary solitary wicket per innings, this time at the cost of 23 runs from 10 overs.
Except for the aberration of his two centuries, both scored against lowly Bangladesh, the first a double (210) on debut and the second (146) in St Lucia (146) last year, Mayers has to date dismally failed to live up to the expectations of a middle-order Test batsman. In his 17 Tests played to date and 30 innings batted, Mayers has scored just 913 runs at an average of 33.81.
That average continues to be bolstered by the 210 not out he scored on debut. Had that been a completed innings, his average would be significantly less than the 33.81, which by Test cricket standards is already considerably below par!
The false impression that has existed concerning Mayers’ suitability as a Test batsman must now surely be recognized for what it is, which is merely a mirage. The masquerade should, therefore, now be ended with Mayers being replaced for the next Test by either Devon Thomas or the youngster Alick Athanaze. Whether the West Indies team’s Selectors will, however, be in agreement with happening was by far the hottest of all the talking points garnering the discussion attention of West Indies cricket fans since the first Test’s conclusion.
No doubt the second Test will generate just as many talking points as the first. Who knows those may even include Mayers instead of assuming his merited place on the team, among its dugout bench warmers and towel carriers, being retained in the playing XI and scoring a century. That would really be the biggest surprise of the entire tour!