Five or six overs cost us the game – Phil Simmons

West Indies coach Phil Simmons has pinpointed five or six overs during the course of the second Test in the Raise The Bat Series at Old Trafford, that were the catalyst for the visitors ending 113-run losers.

The West Indies began day five of the second Test with the ball and a 214-run deficit, but were quickly put under pressure by the big-hitting Ben Stokes, whose, quickfire unbeaten 78 ballooned that lead to 311 with just 11 overs played.

“For me, we lost control of the game in five or six overs with the new ball yesterday evening,” he said. Read more at SportsMax

Brathwaite disappointed in Archer, worries over backlash

Former West Indies T20 captain, Carlos Brathwaite, says that while he understands that everybody, sports stars or not, has a life to live, he is still disappointed with Jofra Archer.

Brathwaite was speaking about Archer’s decision to visit his home in between the first and second Test in the #raisethebat Series against the West Indies.

Archer’s decision saw him miss the second Test which is headed to day four after Saturday was rained out.

The England pacer was fined by the English Cricket Board on Saturday but can play in the third Test if he tests negative for COVID-19.

“For me, as a personal friend, I'm disappointed, not only in what Jofra's done but the scrutiny you get from the media,” said Brathwaite. 

According to Brathwaite, Archer has not done any favours to his image, though he believes the paceman is generally misunderstood.

Read more at SportsMax

The good, bad and ugly of Marlon Samuels

By the time of Marlon Samuel’s infamous fight with Shane Warne at the MCG in 2013, Marlon Samuels was one of my favourite batsmen. I had shivered through a freezing cold fourth day at Lord’s in 2012, watching him blunt England’s world-class bowling attack, and seen him finish the series as its leading run-scorer. Not bad, I thought, for a man written off as an unfulfilled talent.

Four months later, I watched with pure amazement as he played one of the all-time great T20 innings on the biggest stage. West Indies were 38 for 2 after 11 overs of the World T20 final, which seemed to have turned into a coronation for Sri Lanka. Then Samuels unleashed one of the most extraordinary assaults on the world’s best white-ball bowling, carting Lasith Malinga for five towering sixes, each bigger than the last. The fifth was measured at 108 metres.

Not only did he single-handedly salvage the game, he did it in style: forget a high front elbow, he cleared his front leg to open up a huge hitting arc from midwicket through to cover-point, and combined languid with violent to crack the ball off the face of his bat, arms fully extended in an effortless follow-through. To follow that up with a vital spell of off-spin and have his team-mates dust him down in celebration was the icing on the cake.

Read more at Barbados Today

Chase backs West Indies batting ahead of big ask

Another drought for Kemar Roach

Nearly 11 months and 77.2 overs after Kemar Roach dismissed Virat Kohli, the Indian captain remains the last Test wicket Roach he has taken. The Barbadian will be hurting no doubt considering he arrived in England, seven scalps short of becoming the ninth West Indies fast bowler to take 200 Test wickets.

Dry spells are nothing new to Roach, who turned 32 weeks after landing in England. Roach had gone 328 balls without a wicket from 2015 to his first wicket on his comeback in 2017 against England at Edgbaston on the 2017 tour. That had followed another long barren spell mid-2015 during England’s tour of West Indies when Roach went without a wicket for 300-plus deliveries.

How must Roach feel now? The Test series is six days old. Jason Holder and Shannon Gabriel inspired West Indies in the Southampton victory while Roach’s fourth column remains vacant. A man used to making swift and big dents in the opposition has remained a bystander. It must hurt.

Read more at Barbados Today