Let's Lengthen the Batting
Fri, Nov 11, '05
The surprise triumph in last year's ICC tournament apart, the West Indies' proudest moment amidst all the gloom of recent times was probably that record-breaking three-wicket Test match win over Australia in Antigua in 2003.
A quick check with the records will show that the West Indies had decent batting all the way to number nine. Ridley Jacobs walked at seven, Omari Banks at eight and Vasbert Drakes at nine as the West Indies reached the 418-run victory target. But for the heroics of Banks and Drakes, the Caribbean side would have lost that Test match handily.
Which is why so many of us are more than a little annoyed that the West Indies selectors keep playing four bowlers all of whom, put together, seem unable to equate to a single batsman of even moderate ability.
Of course, the puzzle for many is Daren Powell. For here is a man who has time and again in regional cricket looked a very competent lower-order batsman.
Indeed, his batting was key for Jamaica's all-conquering side in last season's Carib Beer campaign. Unfortunately, at the highest level, he more often than not looks a poor number 11 batting at number eight.
Given the circumstances then, Bennett King and his tour selectors were more than a little optimistic if not downright naive when they left out the T&T all-rounder Dwayne Bravo for the first Test in Brisbane. If you are as weak as this West Indies team undoubtedly is, it's foolhardy to have the tail starting at number eight.
Bravo may not be bowling well but none of the others, with the exception of Corey Collymore, are doing much better and the Trinidadian, we know, can bat and field. Also, it's easy to talk with the strength of hindsight but I really think Omari Banks should have been there. He may not be a match-winning offspinner at this point but I thought he showed definite signs of improvement in Sri Lanka earlier this year. Again, he can bat and field.
In my view Banks should have travelled to Australia ahead of Lawson. Lawson remains under a cloud despite the clearance of his bowling action by the ICC but, that apart, he seemed short of competition fitness in that first Test.
Spoilt by the success of West Indian pace in the past, most of us - apparently including Bennett King - keep looking to pace bowlers to find match winners. Time and again we have to be jolted into realising that our young fast bowlers lack the consistency of length and line to seriously bother the world's top batsmen on good pitches. In Brisbane, Collymore was the lone exception.
In fact, Collymore apart, Chris Gayle looked as likely as any to get wickets with his underrated off-breaks and he was the most economical of the West Indies bowlers.
And while we are justifiably critical of our bowlers, let's not forget our butter-fingered fielders. If we drop catches offered by the world's top batsmen we must expect to get slaughtered.
* In association with Jamaica Observer.