Any chance the Windies may have had disappeared in the first eleven overs of the day. After adding 68 for the 4th wicket with Shiv Chanderpaul, Darren Bravo offered Kumar the equivalent of a free hit in brandings, walking across his stumps in order to tickle the ball to fine leg, missing and losing his exposed leg stump. It was an unnerving collapse of technique. At the start of Kumar's next over, he undid the little battler Chanderpaul with a slower ball which held up and looped to cover. Soon after, Carlton Baugh pushed hard in front of his pads in the Ponting way, found the Harbhajan delivery bouncing high on the uneven deck and sent it straight to leg slip. Darren Sammy, intent on getting the ball before the pitch got him used only 11 balls in his five over stay which yielded three 6's and a boundary in a helter skelter, live and let die performance which was high on flamboyance and low on brains.
Meanwhile Nash watching from the other end and trying to act like the batsmen he is, had decided to defend and work for his runs when he was unfairly torpedoed by a shooter from the leg spinner Mishra. Apart from losing a valuable batsmen, it was not a dismissal that will encourage what the West Indians need to do most. Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards and Devandra Bishoo added 35 and 39 respectively for the last two wickets and part timer Suresh Raina took the last wicket when Dhoni was tiring from the half hour wait after lunch. Kumar was the pick of the bowlers.
Losing by 63 when two of your top seven get ducks is a bitter pill but its medicine the West Indies have been taking for some time. Given the chaotic and often bizarre approach their batsmen take to the crease, its not a shock that their run of low team scores continues. The real shock comes in the preparation and presentation of a pitch that was a long way short of Test standard. Sure, its the same for both sides but when one of those sides is the best in the world and the other struggling, its crazy that the struggling home side had to play under such a handicap. As Shiv Chanderpaul and others have claimed, its time the coaching of the side be examined closely. Since Otis Gibson replaced John Dyson, the West Indies poor record has got worse, player relations are at an all time low and the cracks that started to appear in Richie Richardson's last days and now grand canyons.
Sounds like a monster of a pitch! Odd that WI deny themselves some home ground advantage........
ReplyDeleteNash has been dropped but the top and middle order still look shaky to me and Sarwan out of form is a major headache for them. Barath will get better and better and sooner or later Bravo (the good one) will develop some consistency. However, so much depends on Shiv as one of few senior players to show the way.
If Roach can play the pace attack looks so much more threatening but unfortunately Sammy will still get a go a he is captain. It may be fashionable to bag him but he really isn't a test quality bowler in my view. His irresponsible batting is a bad example to all that watch. Granted he took up a role at a time his 'country' needed him to if he is the best option WI have there are problems galore!