West Indies in Australia: A cricket bridge too far

Tue, Nov 29, '22

There were good warm-up games provided against the Prime Minister’s XI. They comprised two four-day games, with the second one given first-class status. The opposition consisted of Australian players who are trying to make the Australian Test team. These will always be players to give fierce opposition, as they are looking for recognition or to be considered good enough to play in a Test match or two.

At the end of the two games, WI didn’t do too badly. However, I suspect they didn’t furnish the type of dominance a coach would like to have seen against a substitute outfit. It only proved that our standard is low.

Tagenarine Chanderpaul is off to a flying start, filling his basket with a century and a half, in two separate innings. This will do his confidence a world of good if he’s self-assured enough not to allow the “big names” of the Aussie fast bowlers, skipper Pat Cummins and the penetrative left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc, to get the better of him. This pair has been lethal in Test cricket, and will be the biggest test that both opening batsmen will have to face – Chanderpaul, for the first time, and the experienced Brathwaite, who possesses the patience of Job. No matter what, these two are going to have their mettle tested to the limit, as are the other batsmen.

Cummins is a right-hand quickie, so it will be a right-hand/left-hand combination, which is always a factor of its own to deal with.

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