WI v SA: Second Test Grades
Thu, Apr 14, '05
This second test should have been about the triumphant return of Brian Lara. Instead, it became the Makhaya Ntini show. Ntini was virtually unplayable, ending with an astounding 13-wicket match haul, and won the hearts of many West Indian fans.
In this match, South Africa provided the West Indies with a lesson on how Test cricket should be played, grinding them down in the field on day three, and led by Ntini, they quickly applied the coup de grace, by taking nine West Indies wickets for a total of only thirty-one runs. The West Indies team clearly lacks self-belief, and going into the third Test, changes clearly have to be made if the West Indies is to salvage this series.
The left-handed opener returned to the fold, but had more of an impact with the ball than he did with the bat. In both innings, he was out to catches behind the wicket, with the second innings dismissal threatening to displace his first innings swish for being the most horrendous. Static at the crease, with feet going nowhere as is his M.O, he sliced one to the gully for De Villiers to take a great catch. Gayle bowled well on the fourth morning to pick up the final four South African wickets to fall; however, he is being paid to open the batting, and if he cannot do that well, some pressure will have to be put on his place in the side.
Grade: D
WAVELL HINDS
Arguably, Hinds is one of the more unlucky players to ever don the maroon cap, as was typified by his second innings LBW to a huge turner from Boje that seemed to be headed towards leg slip. In the first innings, he brilliantly played the foil to a rampaging Brian Lara, until he edged a drive to second slip off Ntini to end his watchful knock. Hinds has improved immensely and after 39 tests seems to be taking his status as one of the more senior players in the side seriously. He continues to make the important breakthrough when bowling.
Grade: C
RAMNARESH SARWAN
After wafting yet another attempted hook shot into the grateful hands of deep fine leg, fans of the Guyana born batsman must have been shaking their heads. However, Sarwan came up trumps in the second innings, making one of the better hundreds that many have seen on the Queen's Park Oval track where the ball was squatting and jumping with alarming regularity. Sarwan, playing each ball on its merit, threatened to save the match for the West Indies, until he ran out of partners one hour after the start of play on the fifth morning. Had any of the other batsmen displayed his application, the outcome of this match may well have been different. Sarwan has to spend a lot of time on a catching cradle to improve his fielding in the slips.
Grade: A
BRIAN LARA
In the first innings, the imperious Brian Lara provided a master-class in batsmanship, playing the way only he knows how to. At his dominant best, and peppering the cover and point advertising boards, Lara was finally undone by the ball of the match from a suffering Andre Nel who didn't seem to believe that he had actually defeated Lara after 196 of the very best. In the second innings, however, the script was vastly different. Simply put, Lara batted as if he had other things on his mind other than a positive result for the West Indies. After a series of uncharacteristically rash shots, he finally cut at one that he should have been on the front foot to from Boje, and that was it.
Grade: A
SHIVNARINE CHANDERPAUL
In his second match as captain, Chanderpaul experienced what every captain before him has experienced: a collosal collapse. The difference is that, thanks to Sarwan and Bravo late on the fourth day, the match might not have gone into the final day. Chanderpaul received one of the two bad decisions to befall the West Indies in the second innings, after an uncharacteristically soft dismissal in the first inning. Chanderpaul has to do more to urge on his troops, and inject some urgency into the proceedings. His quick hook of Powell, after one over in which he went for 13 runs, in the South African second innings seemed to have lit a fire under the Jamaican who came back later and was at least on target.
Grade: Batting D; Captaincy C-
DONOVAN PAGON
Pagon came in as a late replacement for Ryan Hinds but, in hindsight, I'm sure the selectors were kicking themselves for not asking Narsingh Deonarine to make the short 45 minute trip over from Guyana. Pagon, who has either opened or batted at three through out his career, was just a square peg in a round hole at the number six position. In any event, a rampant Ntini found a flaw in his technique and exploited it to the fullest in both innings. As much as Pagon looked at home in the Guyana Test, he looked just as at sea in the second Test. At this time, he has to go back to the drawing board to work out the kinks in his technique, hopefully to return down the road as a better player.
Grade: F
DWAYNE BRAVO
Bravo is as whole-hearted a cricketer as there is. Running in and giving 100 percent effort when bowling, and at least in the second inning, and showing some talent with the bat. Unfortunately, his concentration wavered and when he should have set the first water-break as his first target on day five, he ultimately gifted his wicket wafting at a wide one. That ultimately put the final nail in the coffin as far as the West Indies were concerned. Bravo is a good cricketer, and as long as he works hard he should improve.
Grade: D+
COURTNEY BROWNE
'Thanks and goodbye' should be the words to Courtney Browne. Even though he did manage to score a fighting 29 runs in a useful 74 run partnership with Lara, Browne is paid to be a wicket keeper. He cannot be allowed to drop Kallis twice in consecutive Tests without penalty. In Guyana, his miss cost the West Indies a chance at a victory, and while Kallis did not go on to score big after Browne's gaffe, this is a young team that needs to take every catch that comes its way. Browne, as vice-captain, also needs to be more vocal on the field, encouraging the players. At this point, with the other seniors back, the West Indies selectors would be better served with going with Dinesh Ramdin of Trinidad & Tobago.
Grade: F
DARREN POWELL
Simply put, Powell bowled badly throughout this match until Chanderpaul took away the new ball from him after one over in the final innings. Having not taken a wicket since the first innings of the first Test, Powell needed a good showing here if he is to retain his place for the Barbados test. In my mind, he did not do enough, failing to bowl straight at the batsmen, and far too often either too short or too full. The West Indies urgently needs a bowler who can take wickets with the new ball, and he is clearly struggling to do that. The pitch at Kensington is supposed to be more pacer friendly however; even though one wonders how on a track where Ntini could take thirteen wickets Powell could only come up with one.
Grade: F
PEDRO COLLINS
One of the maddening hallmarks of Pedro Collins career is his seeming inability to remain focused and perform at his best match in, match out. After being one of the chief offenders with the no-ball issue in Guyana, it was more of the same in Trinidad. In his first over, Collins overstepped more times (3) than Ntini did in his entire twenty-eight overs (2), in the West Indies first inning. Collins is supposed to be the spear-head of the West Indies attack, but shows little stomach for the fight.
Grade: F
REON KING
Is there a more passive fast bowler in world cricket? Once seen as a legitimate quickie when Walsh and Ambrose retired, King has become a mere medium pacer with few wicket-taking deliveries. Like Collins, he can't seem to conquer the no-ball problems and was forced to suffer the indignity of having the assistant coach come out at lunch with a tape measure to help him mark his run. King needs to develop a mean streak if he is to stick around in international cricket. He should take a page out of Ntini's book, especially following that barrage when he (King) was holding the bat.
Grade: F
