West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite has questioned his side’s mentality after they crashed to a heavy 284-run defeat inside four days of the decisive second Test against South Africa.
The Caribbean side dismissed the hosts for 321 in their second innings on Saturday, but then crumbled spectacularly for 106, after being set an improbable target of 391 at the Wanderers.
“It’s only mental,” said a solemn-faced Brathwaite, moments after the batting capitulation.
“I think technically yes, we can work on the flaws. So the thing is, you can work on your weaknesses, you can work on your strengths, but your mind has to be in the right place.
St Lucia’s batting prodigy Theo Edward wants to break into the West Indies senior team sometime during the next few years. The 15-year-old Edward, a student at the St Lucia Sports Academy, believes Test cricket is the format that suits him best so he is working his way towards that goal.
“My ambitions for the next five years; I want to play in the U19 World Cup and then hopefully go on to play for the senior team,” said Theo, who scored four consecutive centuries for St Lucia’s U15 team during the Windward Islands Cricket Board (WICB) Tournament last December.
“I have a lot of patience and I like to bat long. It gives me more time to think about my decision making so I like to play the longer format.”
In a time when most young players are drawn to the T20 format, it is a refreshing proclamation from the teenager, who made his national U15 team at the age of 11, and who recently returned home from Grenada where the Windward Islands Volcanoes staged a two-week special apprenticeship programme for a few U19 players.
Theo described his stay in Grenada as being beneficial.
“It was a good experience. The standard was very high. I learnt a lot about my batting, and mentally,” he said revealing that he has made some technical improvements.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana As the national finals of the Republic Bank Five For Fun Cricket draws near, the top three teams from the county preliminaries have booked their places for the finals of the event. St Lawrence Primary from Essequibo, Enterprise Primary from Demerara and All Saints Primary from Berbice, emerged as champions for their respective counties, securing their spots at the Republic Bank Five for Fun Cricket National Festival Finals.
The National Festivals Finals will be held on Friday, 10 March at the Police Sports Club Ground in Georgetown from 9:30am to 12 noon with the official closing ceremony and awards presentation following the conclusion of the matches. In the event of inclement weather, the matches and awards ceremony will be moved to the National Gymnasium in Georgetown at the same time. After completing the zonal preliminary matches, the three teams consisting of three boys and two girls, qualified out of their zones to compete in the Republic Bank Five For Fun County Finals.
These were hosted at the Imam Bacchus Sports Club, Essequibo on 27 February; at the National Gymnasium, Demerara on 3 March; and at the Port Mourant Cricket Ground, Berbice on 6 March.
South Africa have a generous lead of 73 after dismissing West Indies for 251 inside 80 overs on a 13-wicket day at the Wanderers. Jason Holder's half-century - the highest score for a West Indian batting at No.8 or lower in South Africa - and his 58-run final-wicket stand with Gudakesh Motie helped West Indies concede only almost half the deficit they did at SuperSport Park last week and demonstrated the application the rest of the line-up lacked.
Holder, who was batting with the assurance of a player set for a fourth Test century, kept West Indies competitive after twin collapses. They slipped to 51 for 4 in the morning, recovered thanks to a 52-run fifth-wicket stand between Kyle Mayers and Roston Chase and then lost four for 59 in the middle order to much all the good work of their seamers in the first 16 minutes of play.
Alzarri Joseph struck twice and Mayers once as West Indies dismissed South Africa's last three batters in 18 balls, with South Africa adding only nine runs to their overnight score of 311. All told, South Africa lost their last eight wickets for 72 runs. The form of their middle order will also give West Indies reason to believe they remain in the game.
On a pitch with extra bounce on one end and turn on the other, batting was always going to be tricky but South Africa also showed up sharply in the field to make it even more difficult.
ROOKIE WEST Indies left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie is one of three players nominated for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Player of the Month for February.
The 27-year-old was named alongside England batsman Harry Brook and veteran India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, in the nominations announced yesterday by cricket’s world governing body.
In only his third Test last month, Motie snatched a record 13 for 99 to spin West Indies to an innings and four-run victory over Zimbabwe in the second and final Test in Bulawayo.
