The West Indies rounded off a 10-day training camp in Adelaide by getting pretty much all they wanted from a tour game against a Cricket Australia XI, with skipper Kraigg Brathwaite announcing all that remained was to “make West Indians proud” in the upcoming Tests.
Redemption has been a theme for the West Indies since arriving in Australia shortly before new year, with a new-look squad for the two-match NRMA Insurance Series hellbent on performing better than the outfit that crashed to successive heavy Test defeats here last summer.
If the on-field performances and the attention to detail in recent days provide a meaningful guide, that aspiration won’t be as wildly distant as might have been expected when the visitors – who have not won a Test in Australia since 1997 – named a squad containing seven uncapped players.
West Indies Test squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Alzarri Joseph (vc), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Justin Greaves, Joshua DaSilva, Akeem Jordan, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach, Kevin Sinclair, Tevin Imlach, Shamar Joseph, Zachary McCaskie
But Brathwaite confirmed this evening he and team management were “quite clear” on the XI they will take into the first Test at Adelaide Oval starting Wednesday after a number of those untried option impressed in the warm-up fixture.
Top-order batter Kavem Hodge (52 and 99) seems certain to debut, as does fast bowler Shamar Joseph while seam-bowling all-rounder Justin Greaves (65 and 41no, plus two wickets) and spinner Kevin Sinclair (3-38) strongly stated their cases today.
Sinclair is likely in a tussle with left-arm orthodox Gudakesh Motie for the specialist spinner’s role, with established new-ball pair Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph expected to lead the attack and keeper-batter Joshua Da Silva in form after scoring 105 as an opener.
Both teams agreed to end the tour match half an hour before the scheduled time for stumps with the Cricket Australia XI 5-149 in their second innings and still 244 runs in arrears after West Indies piled on 5(dec)-315 in enervating heat earlier today.
The CA XI batting line-up was robbed of skipper Peter Handscomb’s steady experience after the ex-Test player departed midway through the day to return to Melbourne where he will don the gloves for Melbourne Stars in their BBL clash against the Renegades tomorrow night.
“We as a team are very pleased,” Brathwaite said at day’s end.
“The facilities here were outstanding and the boys made good use of them.
“Having time to practice here in Adelaide and get accustomed to the pitches, that was great for us.”
It stands in contrast to Pakistan’s claims last month their Test preparations were hampered rather than helped by a tour match fixtured in Canberra.
Pakistan team director Mohammad Hafeez said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the surface at Manuka Oval where pitch preparation had been hampered by wet weather, and described it as “the slowest we can ever, ever play on as a visiting team in Australia”.
With the Adelaide temperature peaking at 37.2C around the time the CA XI began their second innings a distant 392 runs in deficit, the West Indies bowlers might have been excused for going through the motions and conserving their energies for the upcoming Tests.
But coach Andre Coley is keen to send the message his men can be dogged as well as dashing, and there was no more graphic example than the sight of his fastest bowler Shamar Joseph haring across the outfield to try and prevent boundaries even though runs were the most inconsequential element of an aimless afternoon.
Certainly the inevitable draw loomed largest as the CA outfit’s openers Tim Ward and Jayden Goodwin fashioned a 76-run first-wicket stand that featured barely a mis-stroke.
But Goodwin’s dismissal to a brilliant reflex slips catch by Alick Athanaze off Sinclair sparked a repeat of yesterday’s top-order implosion as the visitors claimed 4-25 from 55 balls.
While the rangy Sinclair, whose action bears a passing resemblance to that of fellow Guyanese off-spinner Roger Harper, pushed his claims for a maiden Test cap with 3-12 off his first five overs, of even greater merit was the standard of the West Indians’ catching.
After Pakistan’s lamentable efforts that saw crucial chances missed in each of their three Test losses, the West Indies were near-flawless with their close-to-the-wicket catching.
Athanaze’s anticipation in the slips and Zachary McCaskie’s reflex snare at short-leg to remove Teague Wyllie were highlights that indicated any disparities with bat and ball between the Frank Worell Trophy rivals shouldn’t extend to fielding.
The need to sharpen their slips catching on bouncy Australian pitches was but one of the learnings Brathwaite and the four other members of his squad who were part of last year’s tour took from an otherwise painful 0-2 drubbing.
“There are times that you play in a Test match that you can speak about as a batsman,” Brathwaite said when asked what advice he and his experienced teammates can pass on to the fresh faces yet to experience international cricket.
“Different spells you’ve faced, how the pitches play.
“There’s a lot of information shared, and Kemar Roach leading the young bowling attack with that experience is similar – how the Kookaburra ball reacts off these types of pitches, the lengths especially with the new ball.
“All good information shared, and it’s time next week to make West Indians proud.”
Da Silva had begun a day of blazing heat in similar batting mode, helping himself to four boundaries in a solitary over from teenage left-arm seamer Campbell Thompson who had been subbed in to bolster the CA XI’s bowling stocks.
Thompson, who is a part of South Australia’s Pathways Academy under CA XI assistant coach Mark Cosgrove, was drafted into the playing line-up partly because of the scorching weather and also due to the absence of Tasmania all-rounder Brad Hope from the bowling crease.
Hope sent down just one over in the West Indies’ second innings that included two wides and several other deliveries that keeper Jake Doran struggled to lay a glove upon as he battled to calibrate his radar, and he did not take the ball again.
The flurry of runs from Thompson’s third over proved an exception rather than the rule, as Da Silva and Hodge settled in for lengthy occupation instead of instant gratification.
Hodge had taken 20 deliveries before scoring his first run the previous evening, but was finding his stride on a pitch that offered little to the greenhorn attack and aided by the speed of the outfield on the boutique-sized Rolton Oval.
But even allowing for those factors, the left-arm spin of Victoria’s Doug Warren coupled with the steady seam attack of Jack Nisbet (NSW) as well as SA pair Harry Conway and Liam Scott saw just 17 runs added from nine overs between much-needed morning session drinks breaks.
It was only after Da Silva reached his century (from 156 balls faced) with a sweetly timed straight drive to the fence from the CA XI’s most successful bowler Liam Haskett (3-65) that he immediately went on the attack with a lofted drive to the mid-on boundary.
However, the 25-year-old from Trinidad departed next ball when he chipped a low catch to mid-wicket.
Da Silva had maximised his move to the top of the order in the practice game environment to ensure he got a decent hit, and his 105 suggested he will make a bigger contribution with the bat than last summer’s two-Test series where he averaged 12.5 across four innings with a top score of 23.
After Da Silva’s departure, Hodge raced into the 90s with a series of boundaries and seemed destined for his first century in West Indies’ senior colours but then slowed his scoring to a series of singles to ensure his former under-19 World Cup teammate Greaves monopolised the strike.
His selflessness likely cost him a deserved hundred when, on 99, he made an ungainly effort to pad away a delivery from Warren that pitched well outside leg stump and was no threat to the stumps until it rebounded from the batters legs and somehow dislodged the bails.
“Very pleased with the hunger he showed to come again in the second innings, and that’s what we want in this team,” Brathwaite said of the uncapped 30-year-old’s game.
From there, Greaves (41 off 72 balls) and McCaskie – who was not granted a chance to push his case for a Test debut in his team’s first innings – helped themselves to a breezy 43 off 10 overs against the modest part-time spin of opening batters Ward and Goodwin.
West Indies Test vice-captain Alzarri Joseph didn’t take the field for the bowling stint at the height of the afternoon heat, and new-ball pair Roach and Shamar Joseph limited themselves to four each in the heat before spinners took centre stage in an academic final session.
