ROSEAU – West?Indies’ coach Ottis Gibson is hoping the signs of growth his squad showed during Australia’s visit to the Caribbean will continue when they go to England to face the No. 1 Test side.
“I’d like to think that the way we’re developing that we’ll be as competitive as we have been in this series, and if we learn our lessons, if we are able first of all to identify those key moments and then play better in them, then there’s nothing to say that we can’t win a Test match in England,” Gibson said here on Friday.
Darren Sammy’s team, fresh off a 0-2 Test series defeat and drawn One-day International and Twenty20 series at home against Australia, leave this week for three Tests, three ODIs and one T20 International.
All three Tests against the Aussies were hard-fought, but both Sammy and Gibson said Australia’s winning of “key moments” in the first match at Kensington Oval and the final game at Windsor Park were responsible for their margin of victory.
Gibson said the combination of good lower order batting by the Australians and his side’s inability to get the tail out cheaply set the Windies back.
“You would still expect your best bowlers to knock over tailenders. But those tailenders are very capable tailenders,” he said.
In the damp English conditions in May, the Windies coach expects his men to, “do well as a bowling unit”. But he added, “the problem will still remain about the batting”.
The 15-man squad announced on Friday for the Test matches includes openers Adrian Barath and Kieran Powell who averaged 10.83 and 21.75 respectively against the Australians on slow pitches they know well. The other opener used in the series, teenager Kraigg Brathwaite (14.20), has been dropped.
However Gibson is prepared to be patient.
“The team is being led very well by Darren Sammy,” he said, “and we are playing at the moment with a very young and inexperienced team and those young, inexperienced guys, we’ve shown belief in them, and they are giving a lot of effort, but some of them are learning on the job and, yes, they will make mistakes and some of the mistakes are very obvious.
“But at the same time, they are learning, and that’s all you can ask of them and, hopefully, as they continue to learn and the team continues to grow, we believe that winning (more consistently) is not far away.”
The coach is hoping that the “unbelievable” Man Of The Series against Australia, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, will get more support in England.
“It would be good to have Kirk Edwards back in the batting order. Since he’s made his debut, he’s come in and he’s looked like somebody that you can rely on at No.3 a bit,” the coach said.
Gibson also mentioned “the young Darren Bravo, who’s improving all the time as a cricketer”, and reinstated wicketkeeper batsman Denesh Ramdin, who replaces Carlton Baugh.
“He’s got experience of English conditions,” Gibson noted of Ramdin. “He’s played there and done well against England in the past, so hopefully he’ll give us some runs.”
The one new face in the squad is Trinidad and Tobago fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, who took 24 wickets at 25.62 in the WICB Regional Four-day competition.
And while Gibson said his inclusion was primarily for “development,” he added: “The way that he’s gone in the last first-class season, there’s nothing to say that he won’t make his debut in England if he goes well . . . in the two practice matches before the first Test.”
Gibson further said of Gabriel, currently having a league stint in England: “He’s still very raw but he’s got the pace; he’s got the sort of physique of the typical West Indian fast bowler, if you like.
“He’s about six-foot-four and he’s very strong and he just loves to bowl . . . . He’s somebody that’s very keen to learn. I’ve spent some time with him before, so I know him a little bit and I’m really looking forward to seeing how he goes in England.”
West Indies will begin their campaign with a three-day fixture against Sussex at Hove next Saturday.
