The West Indies must be commended for a fantastic nine-wicket victory over New Zealand in the first Digicel cricket Test in Antigua.
No praise is too high for the Darren Sammy-led outfit, which was bolstered by the long overdue return of flamboyant opener Chris Gayle to the Test arena.
Interestingly, both Sammy and Gayle have led the West Indies in 20 Tests and each has three victories, with Gayle losing nine and Sammy eight.
Gayle marked his return with knocks of 150 and 64 not out, becoming the West Indies’ highest run-scorer against the Black Caps in Test cricket. During the course of his 14th Test century, he surpassed Gordon Greenidge, who had made 882 runs in 10 Tests (19 innings) at an average of 55.12.
Gayle relishes New Zealand’s bowling and is now the first batsman to score 1 000 runs in the history of Test cricket between the two sides (1 034 runs in eight Tests, average 86.16).
All three of his centuries against the Black Caps have been big ones as he scored 204 in Grenada back in 2002 and 197 at Napier in December 2008.
He also joins Sir Everton Weekes, Desmond Haynes and Lawrence Rowe as West Indians with three Test centuries against New Zealand, a nation against which the greatest cricketer of all time, Sir Garfield Sobers, averaged 23.76 only in 12 Tests, with one century.
But the Test at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground wasn’t only about Gayle, whom many pundits felt should’ve been named Man Of The Match. Certainly, Gayle’s authoritative century and the double century opening partnership with rookie Kieran Powell provided the platform for the West Indies’ victory as with a first innings lead of 171, it was unlikely that New Zealand would have avoided defeat thereafter.
One of the most significant benefits of Gayle’s return is that he will be able to father Powell. The value of such a partnership with Gayle’s experience has already been seen and that’s why one couldn’t fathom why the selectors, in the recent series against England, opted for the inexperienced combination of Powell and Adrian Barath and before that Kraigg Brathwaite, Barath and Powell against Australia. It was just like taking lambs to the slaughter.
Having repaid the faith the selectors had in him, Powell must now aim for consistency and it is encouraging to see that he recognizes his role with Gayle at the other end.
Off-spinner Sunil Narine was named Man Of The Match for his eight wickets, which cost 233 runs, while pacer Kemar Roach certainly would’ve been another contender with seven wickets for 115 runs.
Both Narine and Roach had five-wicket hauls in an innings and it appears that these two will again be the main wicket-taking weapons in the second Test in Jamaica starting on Friday.
But unless they are both handled carefully, they may suffer from overwork. Narine sent down 43 and 42 overs in the two innings, respectively, in Antigua while Roach bowled 23 overs in each innings.
While one would hope that Roach would eventually overcome his problems with no-balls, it is really ridiculous to hear the level of criticism, with remarks like “he can’t bowl”; “he’s no good” and “he isn’t ready yet” by some of his local detractors. I’m sure the Australian and English batsmen are not of the same opinion.
With Ravi Rampaul out with a groin injury, the selectors have called up the West Indies’ most experienced fast bowler in Fidel Edwards. It is left to be seen whether he will get the nod over Tino Best, who was in the squad for the first Test but did not play – as one of occupants of a pace bowling spot cannot be touched, regardless of his success or lack of success.
Of course, that brings me to the bowling role of Sammy in the West Indies’ Test team. His returns of 12 wickets in seven Tests this year from 214 overs at an average of 49.66 are not what one expects of a first-change bowler. His solitary wicket in Antigua for a total of 101 runs from his combined 42 overs was the scalp of Daniel Vettori, who batted at No. 9 with Neil Wagner used at night watchman.
Overall, Sammy has 71 wickets in 28 Tests at an average of 33.36 and even though his batting has been quite good this year, as one of the four specialist bowlers, he needs to take more wickets.
Surprisingly, whenever Sammy’ place in the West Indies’ Test team has been questioned, those who support his inclusion have always pointed to his “outstanding” bowling record.
But how does Sammy really stack up against some past West Indian fast bowlers who have played a similar number of Tests.
For example, Colin Croft took 125 wickets in 27 Tests at 23.30; Charlie Griffith captured 94 at 28.54 in 28 Tests while Patrick Patterson bagged 93 at 30.90 in his 28 Tests and Kenny Benjamin grabbed 92 wickets in 26 Tests at 30.27.
Of more recent vintage, Jerome Taylor had 82 wickets in 29 Tests at 35.64 while Corey Collymore took 93 scalps in 30 Tests at 32.30 and Pedro Collins gained 106 wickets in 32 Tests at 34.63.
There are many people who believe that if Sammy were a Barbadian, he would find it extremely difficult to gain selection in a Barbados first-class side with Roach, Edwards and Best forming a three-pronged pace attack, supported by the left-arm spin of Sulieman Benn.
There are some who may feel that such a remark is disrespectful to the current West Indies captain. But while that may be the reality, there have always been players who were selected for the West Indies when their own country ignored them. Enough said.