W.I v SL: First Test Grades
Wed, Jun 25, '03
The rain may have spoiled the first Test in St Lucia but the West Indies came out of that encounter with what can be deemed a moral victory.
After the Sri Lankan batsman, led by Marvan Attapattu, threatened to run away with the game, captain Brian Lara teamed up with the likes of Wavell Hinds and Omari Banks to show that the Caribbean side can certainly be competitive against the best teams in the world. Here are my grades of the performance of the West Indians...
CHRIS GAYLE
The Jamaican opener continued to struggle against Sri Lanka with the bat, against whom he is averaging a paltry 11.75. However, this time, his conqueror was not Vaas, but Muralitharan at a time when he looked like he'd stick around. Maybe he was so concerned about seeing off Vaas that he relaxed too much against Muralitharan, costing him his wicket. Gayle continues to develop as a useful all-rounder, picking up two wickets off 9.2 overs of steady offspin.
GRADE: C-
DAREN GANGA
Darren Ganga seems to have reverted to his old ways. He always looks very good at the wicket, and yet not have anything to show for his efforts. Managed to get in a tangle against Vaas and was palpably LBW. The currency from his back to back hundreds against Australia will run out soon, and if he is to command a place in the team, he has to come up with some substantial scores.
GRADE: F
WAVELL HINDS
Hinds continued the resurgence that started against the Australians where he was man of the series in the ODIs. This was a very mature ton from Hinds, reminiscent of his first test century against Pakistan back in 2000. It was a knock mixed with tight defense and controlled aggression, and only contained one blemish when he was dropped on 88. His bowling in this game was also revealing. It showed that with the right application and attitude, he could develop into a top flight all-rounder.
GRADE: A
BRIAN LARA
By now, if Brian Lara?s claim to the title the best ever West Indian batsman of all time is still in doubt, I suspect that there will be a whole plethora of Sri Lankan bowlers ready and willing to attest to this fact. Consider that Lara has so dominated Sri Lanka that in 12 innings against Sri Lanka, he has scored 5 hundreds, in fact, his lowest test score in his last three test innings against Sri Lank is 130, and this 209 is his second double century in those three innings.
Lara?s double hundred punctuated a rain ruined test match that looked set to peter out to a tame draw, until Lara decided to put on his own fireworks display as only the wondrous talent that is Lara can. Becalmed in the nineties for two days while Mother Nature did her thing, Lara initially scratched around on the fifth morning and took more than an hour to advance to his 21st test century, surviving a stumping chance off the ever persevering Muralitharan.
However once he had worked out the low bounce and slow pace, and reached his century off 222 ballis in 293 minutes, Lara upped the tempo as only he can, totally dominating a stand of 136 with Omari Banks, with Lara responsible for One hundred ten of those runs.
Lara?s captaincy overall was exemplary, he used his bowlers well in difficult circumstances, and was willing to be combative, especially when Sangakarra seemed to be sneakily trying to rough up the wicket for Muralitharan.
GRADE: A+
RAMNARESH SARWAN:
The vice-captain fell victim to yet another glaring umpiring error. This time it took two of them to get it wrong. Unless the ICC makes radical chances to the system we will see more glaring errors like this.
GRADE: Incomplete
MARLON SAMUELS:
Marlon Samuels continues to struggle when he should be seizing these opportunities to solidify his place in the test team. Continuously failed to pick Murali?s ?Dhoorsa? delivery and finally fell victim to the same bowler, sweeping. Bowled a few overs but certainly did not replicate his spectacular efforts of the preceding ODI series. At times he seemed to fall back into his old habit of losing focus while fielding.
GRADE: F
RIDLEY JACOBS:
Jacobs kept wicket tidily if unspectacularly. When batting, he came to the wicket with a forthright approach that seemed to demonstrate his uncertainty more than it indicated his willingness to get after the Sri Lankan spinners. Predictably, he did not last long. Ridley is coming to the end of stellar international career and maybe the frays are beginning to show.
GRADE: C-
OMARI BANKS:
West Indies were looking for an off-spinner who could bat a bit, and may have unearthed a batsman who seems quite capable of batting at least at the number six position in the order. He showed great patience and the perfect temperament when playing the spinners. His partnership with Lara was invaluable as he played the perfect foil when Lara was taking the attack to the Sri Lankan bowlers. However, Omari needs to work harder on his bowling.
On a wicket that was offering some turn, he was no threat to the Sri Lankan batters, and Gayle himself did a better job of bowling his off-spinners than Banks did.
GRADE: B
MERV DILLON:
The time has come to pull the plug on Dillon?s career. There is no point in persevering with him. To put it frankly, Dillon looks like he?d rather be doing anything else other than playing cricket for the West Indies. Maybe he?s tired, maybe he?s carrying an injury, whatever the problem is, we cannot have our number one quick not be able to take a wicket. Dillon has abjectly failed at a time when the West Indies could use his leadership as the most senior fast bowler.
GRADE: F
COREY COLLYMORE:
Four years after he played his first test match in 1999 against the Australians, Collymore made a triumphant return to the test arena. Picking up five wickets with fast, direct and accurate bowling, he bowled a gem of a spell with the new ball on the second morning, when Sri Lanka could have easily run away with the game.
Collymore seems to have finally come to terms with his remodeled bowling action and showed the ability to move the ball both off the seam and through the air. That he did this on a largely unhelpful surface, just shows the level of commitment that he brought to the task. West Indies could use more performances like this from their bowlers.
GRADE: B+
JEROME TAYLOR:
The latest teenage hope from Jamaica did not produce much in terms of wickets, but then neither did his countryman Michael Holding when he started back in 75-76. Taylor did show enough control, and has a very smooth approach to the wicket. He is just 19 and will definitely get stronger and quicker. As it is, he is using this series to learn and should be persevered with. He seems to have settled down a lot more in the second innings, and with a more helpful surface expected in Jamaica, I would back him to take his first test wicket plus a few more in that game.
GRADE: C
