While Roston Chase might yet have a Role in the West Indies team he is not a No.4

Wed, Aug 25, '21

by KRISSANIA YOUNG

How many other teams in Test cricket would Pakistan have given 117 overs, and more than a day’s play, to have a crack at a target of 329?

West Indies’ batting is a liability! The Caribbean side—which has had just one century-scoring no.3 over the last six years—is currently struggling to find an opening partner for captain Kraigg Brathwaite, while simultaneously featuring two batsmen potentially better suited in the no.6 position (Roston Chase & Jermaine Blackwood) in their top-five. However, instead of unwrapping all of the aforementioned, let’s focus exclusively on the no.4 position in this WINDIES batting line-up and why Chase is not the answer.

In the five years since his Test debut, Chase had previously batted in four positions; none higher than no.5. Yet, with South Africa’s arrival on Caribbean shores and Kyle Mayers’ fall down the order (resulting from his increased workload with the ball), Roston Chase was set for a new role in the top-four.

In theory, the no.4 batsman will not face as new a ball as those ahead of him, neither must he cope with movement (in the air or off the pitch) of similar significance. However, with the West Indies’ top-three probably as fickle as it’s ever been—averaging just 101 runs among themselves in the last two years—Roston Chase, whose weaknesses are seamers and their skillset, is being asked to take guard, on average, in the 7th over of each innings. A period in which a team’s best two seamers would just be settling into their first spells.

To be fair to Chase, even the greatest of batsmen would find it challenging to dominate and perhaps even negotiate skillful and well-directed fast-bowling. However, the better technically sound the batter, the higher their chances.

And Roston Chase, for all his faults, is technically sound. It is in his judgment of the seamers, however; whether it be picking up line & length or predicting swing & seam, where he is found wanting. In his six innings, across two series, batting in the no.4 position, the right-hander has been dismissed by a seamer on five occasions:

Twice trapped on the crease—undone by swing once and seam the other time, both times edging behind.
For the former dismissal, Chase had not gotten to the pitch of the delivery and therefore was unable to negate the swing. And there was some similarity in the latter dismissal, as he failed again to get to the pitch of the delivery and was through the shot by the time the ball started to seam away from him.

Twice fending—once to second-slip and once to short-leg.
These dismissals can be classed as a miscalculation of length, given that there was no need to play at the first (it would have bounced over the stumps) and the second, he seemingly mistook for a shorter-pitched delivery (based on the shot he played).

Once bowled—back of a length, seaming in, playing around it.
Simply put, this was yet another instance in which Roston Chase failed to anticipate the (inward) movement.

These instances, in which Chase was unable to negotiate both the South African and Pakistani seamers serves as a reminder that a misjudgment of any kind, against the faster bowlers, offers less time for adjustments, and thus successful negotiations.

The former West Indies vice-captain has been averaging just 21.17 runs since being moved to no.4; his lowest average in any position he’s batted more than four times. A further index of Chase’s vulnerability to pace is highlighted in his increase in average as he slides further down the order; when the ball is older and the seamers are well into their work. Chase’s Average by Batting Positions:

No.4 after 6 innings: 21.17 No.5 after 43 innings: 27.49 No.6 after 22 innings: 30.90 No.7 after 4 innings: 31.00.

Admittedly, not many Test batsmen will covet even the highest of Chase’s average. Therefore, there is no proclamation that he is world-class. Yet, he’s got 5 Test centuries, more than every player in the West Indies XI not named Brathwaite or Holder, combined. And I can recall several Test match resistances, of which Chase has been the orchestrator for the West Indies: India in 2016 at Sabina Park & Pakistan in 2017 at Windsor Park, etc. Not unlike his five Test centuries, not a single one of which he did batting a no.4.