West Indies revived
the memories of past in the most brutal fashion……
46 all out in 1994
51 all out in 2009
77 all out in 2019
Over the years, Barbados has not given England anything to
cheer for. Even though the Caribbean Kingdom is in ruins these days, England’s misery
in Kensington Oval remains the same. In the post-Ambrose-and-Walsh era, either
a Jerome Taylor or a Roach would gun down a strong English batting lineup only
to revive the great memories of past.
The conversation about West Indies cricket is more about
their past glories rather than their present state. The past was a matter of
pride and joy not only for the Caribbean cricket fans, but for the neutrals as
well. You could not find anyone, who did not love the West Indies team of Clive
Lloyd, Sir Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose. The past calms
down the heart, while the present gives heartache. But still, a West Indies
cricket fan does not give up dreaming.
Bridgetown Barbados – a venue, which has witnessed some of
the best exhibition of fast bowling from the giants West Indies cricket. The
nature of the track suited the pacers and the batting lineup of touring teams
used to sit on flaming ruins. But in the course of time, spin has taken over
pace in Caribbean islands. According to CricViz, “Spin has certainly played a
big role in domestic cricket in the Caribbean in recent years. Since 2015
spinners and quicks average 25 runs per wicket in first class cricket”. But
still, in Barbados, the pacers tend to have the edge over pace as it remains the
venue with the highest spin bowling average (41.55) in last 5 years.
No matter how slow-and-low the Barbados deck might be, the
pacers would still love running in from the Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner
end and dish out rib-snorting deliveries to the batters. James Anderson and Ben
Stokes enjoyed out there, but when Kemar Roach, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph
and Shannon Gabriel started to bowl – it seemed, West Indies brought back the
glorious days, when sheer-pace and bounce beat the fury of hell-fire!
Kemar Roach is one hell of an inconsistent pace bowler. He
is one of the most naturally talented fast bowlers, who have the ability to
bowl at a deceptive pace. Inconsistency and poor fitness always undermined his
abilities. And of course, one can consider him quite lucky when he escaped a serious
injury following a car accident in 2014. His pace has dropped since then, but still,
on rare occasions, he can be a demon and devour everything, which comes in
front of him.
On a bright sunny day at Barbados, England had to face the
demonish side of Roach and along with Roach; Holder, Joseph and Gabriel
transformed into the same. The ship of Joe Root’s touring party sunk in no time
in the Caribbean Sea.
West Indies’ first innings ended below 300 runs and one
felt, 289 was not adequate enough to challenge the might of England batting.
Rory Burns and Keaton Jennings started off with composure.
Roach and Holder looked solid, but not threatening enough to provide a
breakthrough. At the stroke of lunch, Jennings essayed a loose-drive and was caught
at gully. The wicket was against the run of play, but England were still not
bothered as their batting lineup is good enough to take a healthy lead.
Play resumed after lunch and Roach the demon cut loose.
He switched ends and dragged his length shorter and banged
the ball in fast and accurate. As Cricviz said, “His length was shorter than in
his first spell – 7.9m on average, compared to 6.1m before lunch, and 39.5% of
the balls he bowled were shorter than 8m from the stumps, compared to 0% in his
first spell”.
“Only two balls he bowled in the entire innings would have
gone on to hit the stumps. A fact such as that is one that is often used as a
stick to beat an opening bowler with; that they should be attacking the stumps
more, pitching it up, and making the batsman play. Roach’s second spell was
testament to the fact that hitting the stumps is not necessary if you can bowl
with the accuracy, hostility and penetration that the 30-year-old showed today”.
“It was, in fact, when Roach pulled his length back that he
was at his most effective. He pitched 20 balls on a good length (6m-8m) during
his second spell and picked up three wickets for six runs. When he dragged his
length back further, as he did on 19 occasions, England were unable to score a
single run and both Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler were dismissed”.
Burns and Jonny Bairstow were flummoxed by the hostility of
Roach and chopped onto their stumps. Roach then pitched one a tad full and
back-of-a-length, which trapped Stokes lbw and followed it up with a blazing
short-ball, which had Moeen Ali all sorts of trouble. Ali tried to half-pull one, but was caught at deep fine-leg
- the pace was such that the ball went high up in the air after just a mere touch of the
bat. Roach pulled his length back again. A short
and sharp delivery outside offstump dismissed Jos Buttler. The demolition act
was completed as Roach bagged 5 wickets for 4 runs in 27 runs.
At the other end, Holder, Gabriel and Joseph went the Roach
way. They were in a destructive mood and kept on bowling with a lot of
hostility throughout the session. Joe Root was undone by Holder, while Ben
Foakes, Sam Curran and Adil Rashid were outclassed by Joseph and Gabriel.
Especially Holder proved that he is not just a traditional
line-and-length bowler, but can be skillful when the situation demands. On Day
2, he moved the ball laterally more often and keeps the batsmen quiet by
bowling on a traditional length and suddenly surprise them by keeping it up a
tad fuller. Accuracy is Holder’s strength while sudden switch from good length
to full is his wicket-taking funda.
England were bowled out for 77 runs in just 30 overs.
The Barmy Army went silent. The English experts could not
believe what just happened, while the West Indian fans felt, they were in dreamy land. It was fair old whiff of
nostalgia.
Note: This article has been published at Cricketsoccer on 25/01/2018 West Indian devastation at Barbados
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
No comments:
Post a Comment