BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The West Indies Cricket Board announced today that left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul has been added to the Test squad for the third and final match against England.
The West Indies will now have a 15-member squad for the third Test against England, starting on Friday at the Kensington Oval. Leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo suffered a cut to his ring finger in the right hand and is being treated by the medical staff.
Permaul, 25, made his debut in 2012 and has played four Test matches so far. He has 12 wickets at an average of 37 runs per wicket. He was the leading wicket-taker in the WICB’s Professional Cricket League Four-Day Tournament this year with 67 wickets at 14 runs each.
Commenting, Head Coach Phil Simmons said: “Bishoo did well for us in the second Test in Grenada but he has a finger injury so we decided to call-up Permaul. He (Permaul) was among the best bowlers in the four-day cricket earlier this season, and he also bowled well in the camp ahead of this series – so he’s in good shape.”
FULL SQUAD, Denesh Ramdin (Captain), Kraigg Brathwaite (Vice Captain), Devendra Bishoo Jermaine Blackwood Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shiv Chanderpaul, Shannon Gabriel Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Veerasammy Permaul, Kemar Roach Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith, Jerome Taylor
The DJ had the nerve to play ‘Rally Round The West Indies’ ahead of the last over before lunch on the final day of the second Test match. By then, the English bowlers had gobbled up six West Indies wickets. All credit to them, of course. Spectators would have been thinking that no amount of rallying was going to bring the team back into a position to draw the game. Where is the rain that visited the Grenada National Cricket Stadium often on days 1 and 2, they wondered? The sun answered by shining even brighter!
At the post-match press conferences after day 4, both century makers Joe Root and Kraigg Brathwaite had said that the first hour would be very important for their respective teams. It was indeed. It showed England that they could take the fight to the opposition and work them out on a pitck which was still playing well. On the other hand, it could have had Captain Denesh Ramdin asking “is West Indies ready?” what with the team going to lunch on 286 for 8. Six wickets lost in two hours.
Author’s note: I stopped writing at lunch time, unable to predict the future. Yes, while the sun shines, there was hope.
During the lunch interval, would Ramdin have asked his team if they were ready? Ready to defend the target of 143 they had set England to reach in 47 overs? Ready to dispel their reputation as ‘bits and pieces’ cricketers in the eye of the fans? Did he issue a clarion call to his troops?
Kensington Oval will be teeming come this Friday, as the West Indies try to level the three-Test series. On the other side of the fence, England, will be trying to secure the series-win. Until then, might I disturb the peace? Before I begin though, might I rewind the clock forty-one years?
Any visitor and cricket enthusiast, who has ever visited Barbados in general, and Kensington Oval in particular, will know how much a true Bajan appreciates his cricket - good cricket. On more than one occasion, I've visited, and have asked, just for conversation, "Tell mi, were you at Kensington when Lawrence Rowe scored his triple?" Invariably I'll get this transfixion, as if I'm taking the Bajan, back to his heaven. "Oh my Gaawd," he or she will start off with. From there, I'll get comfortable.
Time was when the manner of last Saturday’s nine-wicket defeat suffered by the West Indies at the hands of England would have sent shock waves through the Caribbean; it would have brought forth a collective howl of outrage, a baying for blood, a boisterous, insistent demand that heads roll. Last Saturday’s familiar display of woeful ineptitude by the West Indies passed relatively quietly. Even England did not appear to want to make much of a fuss about it.
These days, those swift reversals of fortune, from positions of comparative strength or – to put it more precisely – relative safety, to inexplicable defeat, have become par for the course for the Caribbean side; so that while some of us still fret over those kinds of outcomes, the once widespread regional preoccupation with issues of winning and losing has been supplanted by a resigned indifference to the outcomes of the team’s encounters. It may be an unflattering thing to say but the truth is that some of us, perhaps even most of us, have now come to expect little from ‘our boys.’ As far as outcomes of encounters are concerned we live in times of always fearing the worst.
After 20 years of free falling in test cricket, is it possible that the West Indies are finally setting a solid foundation to compete against the top 7 test nations?
There's an undercurrent of excitement among ardent West Indians fans, who relished the 4th innings fight put up to ensure an unlikely draw in the first test match against England in the current home series. Fuel is being added to the fire with another fightback currently underway in the 2nd test match.
The backbone of the resistance have been Kraig Brathwaite (22 years, 145 days), Darren Bravo (26 years, 78 days), Jermaine Blackwood (23 years, 156 days), Jason Holder (23 years, 171 days) alongside veteran Marlon Samuels. The bowling department has not been as consistent with Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach and a returning Devendra Bishoo struggling on flat and lifeless pitches.
Brathwaite average (36.96), a dour batsman who's prepared to grind out an inning is in contrast to those that have gone before him - Greenidge, Hunte, Gayle, Haynes,Frederick, has provided stability at the top. The search for the 2nd opener seems destined to continue as a half century by veteran Devon Smith seems unlikely to lead to continued consistency.
Darren Bravo (42.78) has not been at his fluent best so far, but his 6 centuries, average of 42 and highest score of 218 is nothing to scoff at.
Jermaine Blackwood (48.25) progressed quickly into the West Indies team and impressed many with his tenacity and ability to successfully take on a challenge. A tightening of his technique will only make him better.
