The Guyana Jaguars have ended day two’s final session of play on 115-3, enjoying a lead of 152 at stumps. Leon Johnson top-scored with 51, while Tagenarine Chanderpaul was left unbeaten on 29.Clinton Pestano had earlier set the tone for the Jaguars by picking up two wickets in the opening over of the day, to finish with four wickets, while Permaul captured three wickets.The Volcanoes were bowled out for 187 in 59.1 overs, with Delron Johnson and Alick Athanze scoring 34 runs each.After a see-saw opening day at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in St Lucia, the Guyana Jaguars took firm control early in the second day’s play, which commenced with the fiery Pestano continuing where he had left off on day one. In the first over of the day, Pestano removed Taryck Gabriel (07) and Roland Cato in the space of one run, the pink ball zipping through to Jaguars wicket-keeper Anthony Bramble as the fast bowlers continued to prosper.
Bridgetown, Barbados, December 7 - (www.bcacricket.org) - Barbados Pride, starting the day on 12 without loss off ten overs, were 197 for six off 100 overs in reply to a first innings total of 252 all out in 72.2 overs by Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the close of play on the second day of Round 1 in the Cricket West Indies first-class Day/Night match at 3Ws Oval today.
The not out batsmen were Tevyn Walcott on nine and Hayden Walsh Jr, seven.
The Sher-e-Bangla Stadium will host its ninth One-Day International of the year when Bangladesh hosts Windies for the first of two ODIs at the venue. The pitch in Dhaka has been rather unpredictable with first innings scores ranging from 82 to 320 spanning the eight ODIs hosted there since January of this year; the 300 mark being surpassed only once with the team batting first coming out triumphant on five of those occasions. The visitors will have their work cut out for them as unlike the flat tracks offered up in India, the Bangladesh pitches are expected to turn.
Back home, the build up to the series has been dominated by news that the Jamaican Rovman Powell will stand in for the injured Jason Holder as captain. The appointment of Powell as interim captain adds to the long list of bemusing decisions (at face value) which has led to the lack of trust between Caribbean fans and the West Indies selectors in recent times. The news of Powell as captain almost overshadowed the fact that Darren Bravo has now “snuck” back into two of three formats with his inclusion in the 15-man squad. Whether his involvement is the correct decision, what has changed (in the eyes of the selectors) since he was unable to make the squad to India? Either the need for his services just dawned upon Browne and company, or the selection panel has bowed to public pressure—both of which are unbecoming of the leaders of the region’s game.
With the omission of Obed McCoy and the injured Ashley Nurse the squad reads: Rovman Powell (Capt), Marlon Samuels, Devendra Bishoo, Roston Chase, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Shimron Hetmyer, Darren Bravo, Shai Hope (wk), Carlos Brathwaite, Keemo Paul, Kieran Powell, Fabian Allen, Kemar Roach, Sunil Ambris, Oshane Thomas.
Along with the squad list came this statement from Windies Chairman of selectors, Courtney Browne: “With two more ODI Series before the 2019 World Cup, the Bangladesh series allows us to narrow our search for our final 15-member World Cup squad”. Which begs the question -what more could young McCoy have done in the two opportunities given to at least retain his place in the squad. Or maybe, we should be expecting a trend and with the return of Holder and Nurse, we’ll then be sending Fabian Allen and Keemo Paul on their merry way next.
The visitors will have a feat on their hands in fitting four number three batsmen into their playing XI; as Hope and Hetmyer should retain their places based on their recent roles in India and surely veteran Samuels won’t be asked to make way for the returning DM Bravo. Putting all the controversy and perceived bad decisions (leading up to this series) aside, there is still the hope that Powell will lead his charges well, give Bangladesh a run for their money in tough conditions and avenge the disappointment of the Test series.
Predicted XI: Hemraj, SD Hope (wk), DM Bravo, Samuels, Chase, Hetmyer, R Powell (c), Allen, Bishoo, Roach, O Thomas.
Windies’ Test year ended in disappointment on the subcontinent, but the spectacle of seam bowling by the Caribbean outfit earlier in the year should not be forgotten. Despite the whispers, the seam attack of Roach/Gabriel/Holder had quietly gone about their business in rather impressive fashion. The trio accounted for 61% (89 of 145) of wickets taken by Windies in 2018. This is despite at least one being absent for a combined nine (9) of a possible sixteen (16) innings in that period. A period in which there were a series of unforgettable (to those paying attention), head-turning and not least, match-winning performances.
In Windies’ first Test of the summer, things were evenly poised heading into the 5th Day at Port of Spain; with Sri Lanka having seven wickets in hand, two-hundred and seventy-seven runs away from victory. More importantly, the dangerous Kusal Mendis was still at the crease, within touching distance of his fifth Test ton. It was not yet to be known that the intelligence of Shannon Gabriel to remove Mendis, angling the ball into the right-hander by delivering from wide of the crease (only for the ball to kick off the surface, leaving Mendis to fail miserably in his attempted negotiation—simply unplayable from Gabriel), was to set the tone for a string of enthralling seam bowling performances for the remainder of the year.
Vishaul Singh struck a fine half century while Clinton Pestano picked up two wickets to put Guyana Jaguars in a comfortable position against the Windward Islands Volcanoes at the close of play on the first day of the Cricket West Indies Regional Four-Day Franchise League which commenced yesterday.
Host Windward Islands Volcanoes inserted Guyana Jaguars at the Darren Sammy Stadium and Delorn Johnson provided them with the breakthrough by uprooting the stumps of Tagenarine Chanderpaul (02) before Leon Johnson was run out for eight, leaving the score at 23-2. Trevon Griffith struck two fours before he was removed by Ray Jordan for 19 while Tevin Imlach was caught and bowled by Shane Shillingford for 8 which included a six as Guyana Jaguars slipped to 56-4. Vishaul Singh and Christopher Barnwell added 31 for the fifth-wicket, but Johnson ended their brief resistance when he removed Barnwell after the batsman had struck three fours in scoring 18. Anthony Bramble followed soon after for four; however Singh timed the ball well and reached the boundary six times as he put on 95 for the seven-wicket with Romario Shepherd to steady the innings fairly. Singh eventually fell to Shillingford for 74 after facing 150 balls.
Although the West Indies slid to an historic innings and 184-run defeat to Bangladesh in the 2nd Test in Mirpur on Sunday morning, what did we honestly learn? Besides the fact that it became crystal clear that Kraigg Brathwaite is not a Test Captain; nothing else can be classified as ‘news’ from a Windies point of view, based on the two-match Test series between Windies and Bangladesh. And while it is becoming increasingly evident that this West Indies team is a different prospect without their leader, Jason Holder, it is still difficult to accept that Windies’ replacement for either of their two bowlers in the top six of Test seam bowlers in 2018 (Holder and Gabriel) is Shermon Lewis.
Sherman Lewis
In an honest assessment of Lewis, he has not offered much to the bowling attack to date; he offers nothing by way of swinging the ball nor is he a fast bowler by definition. It can’t even be recalled a time when he hit line and length on a consistent basis neither in Rajkot nor in Mirpur. Therefore, what is the purpose of Shermon Lewis in the team?
West Indies Cricket is in a rut. However, despite the in-between wickets in the Caribbean and the fact that only Gabriel has genuine pace in our Test attack, our bowling unit has been able to cop *90% of wickets, prior to the Mirpur Test, in 2018 (an improvement on 74% in 2016 and 85% in 2017). With this improving bowling attack, it can be concluded that the batting is what keeps holding this team hostage. Therefore, it would be a backward step to select Lewis, as well as a slap in the face to the time and work Holder and company put into making themselves a threat. Until we can identify what makes him a bowler (except for a bowling action) the selection of Lewis will remain, in the eyes of Caribbean fans, a step backward.
The Matter of Kraigg Brathwaite as Interim Captain
Day 1 of the 2nd Test was an evenly contested one, all things considered. Shakib Al Hasan was even in some discomfort in typical new-to-the-crease fashion. However, instead of encouraging young Lewis to dangle the proverbial carrot outside off stump (or anything remotely along those lines), Brathwaite was off setting the field for Lewis to bowl short with traps deep on the leg side. Then, a string of insipid decisions from the visitors began to sway the innings the way of the hosts; there was no more a decisive factor than when Roston Chase trapped the Bangladeshi captain in front (Hawkeye showed it would have hit leg) and the discussion to review (Windies decided against it) didn’t even seem to include our stand-in captain. With this criticism of Brathwaite’s captaincy, we take nothing away from his batting and his contribution to the finest moments in the Holder era, but KRAIGG BRATHWAITE IS NOT A TEST CAPTAIN.
However heart-breaking it is to see the West Indies being swept 2-0 by Bangladesh, the priority of Cricket West Indies now should be hopping on the home-dominance train. A train which route now includes stops at most top Test cricket nations. This itself will be an operation. One would assume that this automatically means the unveiling of faster wickets in the Caribbean. However, our batsmen themselves are unable to negotiate fast bowling, which translates to West Indies Cricket’s current lack of identity. Therefore, operation ‘home-dominance’ must begin at identifying the strengths of this generation of West Indian players.
*Wickets taken when the opposition was made to bat
