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.
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