Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 23/Jul 05:49

Cricket nightmare

BEN Stokes’ England team strolled away with the cricket series against the West Indies by winning the second Test Match convincingly in four days of the potentially five-day match. This very interesting game saw each team scoring over 400 runs on the first two days of the Test, with WI leading by 41 runs. The final tally of runs was: England on the first day accumulating 416, with the WI following up on day two by posting 457. Then the home team stitched together 425 in their second innings, leaving a day and a session for their opponents to try and find a way to score 385 runs for victory on a wearing pitch. It proved a bridge too far and out of reach, and they succumbed for the measly total of 143. A poor, disappointing performance, but not unexpected as the match progressed. Despite losing the first Test by a wide margin of an innings and 114 runs, the comeback in the first inning of this Test to score 457 runs was an achievement that will have taken their most loyal and optimistic supporters by complete surprise. Both Kavem Hodge, who played beautifully, with some ferocious pulls and pleasant, well-timed drives through the off-side while journeying towards a delightful hundred, and Alick Athanaze, with his classical cover-driving during his gratifying knock of 82, enabled one to understand the art, beauty and attraction of the elegance of Test cricket. Both Dominican batsmen lit up the field at Trent Bridge and impressed all those, both English and West Indian supporters, with the hidden talent that still exists and only needs regular, first-class competitions to provide the necessary experience for more rapid maturity. [caption id="attachment_1097884" align="alignnone" width="1024"] England's Shoaib Bashir, left, celebrates with team mates after England's victory during day four of the second Test against West Indies at Trent Bridge cricket ground, Nottingham, England, on July 21, 2024. - AP PHOTO[/caption] Joshua Da Silva’s confidence as a senior Test player was revealed by the way he played from the first ball, a straight drive between mid-off and the bowler for four, to his splendid shots all around the ground, plus the sixes he struck with nonchalance. Thanks to him, together with Hodge and Athanaze, there is a foundation that can be built on for the future. I took a bet with a friend of mine that regardless of whoever won the toss in this second Test match, England would have first strike. My reasoning was simple, but it was based on a wide experience of playing cricket throughout the WI and in England. As it happened, WI won the toss and inserted England. And the ground for my prediction was the terrible batting let-down in both innings of the previous Test. It made the WI think-tank anxious over their immature batting line-up; they doubted their ability to withstand the seam bowlers of their opponents. Their lack of knowledge of cricket grounds in the UK would very likely leave them uninformed about the playing surface of Trent Bridge, where the second Test would be played. It is a flat wicket as far as English wickets go: these give bowlers little assistance, though they might obtain a bit of give for seamers throughout the game. It would help mostly before lunch on the first day, but only slightly, and that’s what opening batsmen are for. After lunch, it would be quite flat, with little help for the bowlers, making it a lovely wicket to bat on. The surface remains in the batsman’s favour for the second and third days; then signs of wear begin to show on the fourth day and bowlers start smiling again. [caption id="attachment_1097882" align="alignnone" width="1024"] -[/caption] The difference is that the spinners come into their own. The seamer has an advantage, because his deliveries start keeping low, so that the variable bounce of the pitch is what the batsman has to deal with. Hence the rationale of establishing a sound batting technique. Nearing the end of WI’s first innings, one noticed that Shoaib Bashir’s off-spinners were beginning to turn, albeit slowly, not dangerously. In the second innings, he mixed it up a bit with straight ones which tormented the batsmen. By the time first-innings heroes Athanaze and Hodge got in, Bashir was in command and had Athanaze playing at the pitch of a well-flighted delivery, but not quite close enough to the ball, and he edged it to first slip. Hodge, not unlike his left-handed colleague, never looked comfortable. Bashir brought one into the stumps from a foot outside the off-stump and had him plumb lbw. A completely different wicket now. Hence one always has to be prepared for varied and exacting wickets in England.   The post Cricket nightmare appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.