February 6, 2019 issue
Cricket
A newly invigorated West Indies reclaimed the coveted Wisden Trophy for the first time in a decade after they produced yet another imperious display to thrash a bewildered England by 10 wickets inside three days of the intriguing second Test last Saturday.
On another day of high drama at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground when 14 wickets tumbled, West Indies were dismissed in their first innings for 306, about 25 minutes before lunch, but then routed England spectacularly for a dismal 132 in their second innings.
England were destroyed by Man-of-the-Match seamer Kemar Roach who snatched all four of his wickets early in the final session to claim four for 52 and match figures of eight for 82, while captain Jason Holder was equally destructive in picking up four for 43.
Set just 14 runs to win, left-hander John Campbell (11 not out) smashed the 13th ball of the innings from veteran seamer Jimmy Anderson over the mid-wicket ropes, as West Indies emphatically notched their first series victory over a higher-ranked team in seven years.
“[My emotions] are difficult to describe now …,” an overjoyed Holder said afterwards.
“I think we’re hungry, we’re hungry for success. This group has been together for the last year-and-a-half to two years and we’ve been doing some exceptional things.
“Credit to the boys for sticking to the task. I think it is something we really wanted and obviously the way we ended last year was a bit daunting as well and everybody wanted to turn things around.”
Resuming the day on 272 for six, the hosts lost their last four wickets for 34 runs but importantly secured a 119-run first innings lead to put England under increased pressure.
Left-hander Darren Bravo, in only his second Test following a 27-month break, converted his overnight 33 into his 17th Test half-century.
The knock was a marathon one, spanning 216 balls and a shade over six hours and included two fours and a six, marking the slowest-ever half-century by a Windies batsman in Tests.
He was last out, stumped off off-spinner Moeen Ali (3-62), attempting to farm the strike as West Indies sought to add to their lead.
England’s bowlers stayed disciplined on the unpredictable surface and were rewarded as Anderson (2-73) claimed two of the wickets to fall while new ball partner Stuart Broad finished with three for 53 and Ben Stokes, two for 58.
Holder added three to his overnight 19 and extended his seventh wicket stand with Bravo to 45 before edging Anderson behind and Roach fell for six nearing the hour mark when he attempted an ambitious drive at Anderson and edged high to Stokes at second slip.
Sadness surrounded Alzarri Joseph’s arrival following the news of the early morning death of his mother but the 22-year-old bravely survived 20 balls before perishing to the first ball of a new Stokes spell, edging a defensive prod to be taken low at third slip by Rory Burns.
Openers Joe Denly (17) and Burns (16) then survived four tricky overs before lunch to carry England to the break on nine without loss, and extended their opening stand to 35 afterwards, with Roach and Shannon Gabriel proving ineffective. The tide changed, however, once Holder and Joseph formed an alliance, and they wrecked England’s top order with two wickets apiece, leaving the visitors in disarray on 75 for four at tea.
Holder struck with the first ball of his spell, having the left-handed Burns caught by Campbell at third slip, 40 minutes after the interval, and the dismissal opened the floodgates as England lost four wickets for 24 runs in quick time.
Jonny Bairstow missed a booming drive at Holder and was bowled for 14 and Joseph, who produced an inspired spell of two for 12 from seven overs, got the first of his wickets when he brought one back to have captain Joe Root caught behind off the inside edge for seven, after the Windies resorted to DRS.
Joseph, displaying extraordinary emotional control, then put an exclamation mark on the session when he removed Denly’s off-stump after the right-hander shouldered arm.
Obviously still reeling from the 381-run crushing in the first Test in Bridgetown the previous weekend, England failed to muster a recovery after the break, as their last six wickets perished for 57 runs.
Stokes, dropped before he had scored by Campbell at third slip off Joseph, departed in the fourth over after tea, bowled for 11 missing a drive at Roach and Moeen followed for four in Roach’s next over, also bowled playing around a full length delivery.
Tottering on 96 for six, England’s decline continued when Ben Foakes was lbw to Roach for 13 on review and three balls later in the next over, Jos Buttler fell lbw to Holder, after top-scoring with 24 off 48 balls with five fours.
The end drew even nearer when a fired-up Roach got a full length ball to pitch and straighten and hit Broad plumb in front without scoring and Joseph fittingly ended the innings when he dived forward from mid-on to hold a smart catch, after Holder forced Anderson (0) into an awkward defensive stroke.
The final Test in St Lucia is on Saturday.
With Australia holding all the aces going into the penultimate day, the visiting side's camp would have at least hoped to put up some resistance. However, Starc, who consistently bowled at over 90mph in the Test, found swing under clear blue skies and also mixed it up with the bumper.
The tried and tested tactic worked for Starc as he snuffed out Dimuth Karunratne with the inswinger. Dinesh Chandimal, who replaced Karunratne at the crease, didn't last long either as he edged an away-swinger from Starc to Marnus Labuschagne in the slip cordon.
Niroshan Dickwella, who was promoted up the order, played with a touch of bravado and in the company of Lahiru Thirimanne put up a semblance of resistance. Unfortunately for the visitors, the short ball tactic continued to haunt them. From round the wicket, Cummins bowled a well-directed short ball to force Thirimanne to top-edge one with the bowler pouching an excellent return catch.
Just before the break, the hosts were dented further as a result of Starc's double strike. Kusal Perera, who was hit on the grille on Day 3 and had to retire hurt, was one of the two batsmen dismissed. The Australian camp showed good tactical nous by playing on Kusal's mind with a field set for the short ball only for Starc to outfox Kusal with a fuller length delivery and produce the edge.
In the afternoon session, Kusal Mendis cracked a few eye-catching shots and alongside Chamika Karunratne strung a stand of 47 for the seventh wicket. Unfortunately, like most of his teammates, Mendis too gifted his wicket away by driving one off Labuschagne straight to the fielder positioned at cover. Cummins and Starc soon provided the finishing touches to bring to an end Sri Lanka's sorry tale.
Sri Lanka have a lot of soul-searching to do. As of now, the visitors seem to be in the midst of an an angry storm where they are struggling to explore a new route to sail through the troubled waters. Meanwhile, after a morale-sapping Test series loss to India, the hosts would be delighted to get back to winnings ways.
Brief scores: Australia 534/5 decl. (Joe Burns 180, Travis Head 161, Kurtis Patterson 114*; Vishwa Fenrando 3-126) and 196/3 decl. (Usman Khawaja 101*; Kasun Rajitha 2-64) ) beat Sri Lanka 215 (Dimuth Karunaratne 59; Mitchell Starc 5-54) and 149 (Kusal Mendis 42; Mitchell Starc 5-46) by 366 runs.
By Errol Townshend
Nobody will deny that over the course of history various "isms" (colonialism, imperialism, racism, sexism, ageism) and, in the case of the Caribbean, slavery and regionalism (aka insularity) have negatively impacted lives, some more than others.
But we ought to be careful, not only during these current tumultuous times but also looking back in history, that we don’t attribute every setback, failure, disappointment to one or more of these "isms", and thereby distort history.
I am driven to that view after reading the first installment of Romeo Kaseram's take on Andy Ganteaume's unique cricket career (ICW, January 9). The lament, perpetuated over the years by many others before Kaseram, is that Andy was badly treated by “The Establishment” (that is, the white colonial class) which ruled West Indies cricket during his time. It is argued that this is why, despite scoring 112 in his first Test innings in 1948, he never batted again, the only man in the long history of Test cricket to have achieved his curious distinction.
Nonsense.
Sure enough, some folks have been victims of one or more of these "isms". But sometimes happenstance, good luck, bad luck, quirks and yes, our own faults and choices, cause disappointing results. Ganteaume is one such case.
Initially, because of insularity, West Indies had a policy of picking a local captain for each of the island Tests. That changed in 1935 when Jackie Grant of Trinidad captained in all four Tests and led West Indies to 2-1 victory over England, their first ever series victory. In 1948 when England returned, a curious arrangement was struck before the tour started. George Headley of Jamaica (who had Bajan antecedents) was appointed captain for the Barbados and Jamaica Tests, Trinidad's Jeff Stollmeyer for the Trinidad Test and Bajan John Goddard for the British Guiana Test.
Ganteaume, meanwhile, had started his career with a bang back in 1941 as a specialist wicketkeeper, hitting 87 coming in at No. 8. But he soon lost his place behind the stumps, not to a white player, but to Sookval Samaroo, a specialist keeper, but with no pretensions to batsmanship. Ganteaume, his batting skills now unearthed, returned to the Trinidad team in short order as a specialist batsman. But his scores were underwhelming (9, 2, 13, 37, 3, 4, and 9). He could consider himself lucky, back in those days, not to have been consigned to the ashcan of West Indies cricket history there and then because opportunities then were few and far between.
It can be strongly argued that it was wicketkeeping that prolonged his career. In his second coming as a wicketkeeper/sometimes opening batsman/sometimes specialist batsman his performance between 1943-47 improved somewhat (18, 20, 28, 9, 13, 97, 42, 68, 24, 57, 10, 112, 27, 85, 10, 14, 159, 14, 0, 5, 36, 50, and 1). In the Colony matches against England in 1948, preceding the Trinidad Test, he struck a purple patch. In the first match, as wicketkeeper/opener, he hit 101 and 47 not out. In the second, as a specialist batsman, he hit 5 and 90. However, he was not included in the original 12 for the Test. He had taken a whole day to score 101 and so the selectors sent to Barbados for the veteran George Carew. The Bajan was a dashing but inconsistent opener who had make a duck in his only Test innings way back in 1935, but who had performed reasonably well for his island subsequently, and made 46, 81 and 30 in the two preceding colony matches against the tourists. Was this bad luck for Andy? Carew ended his career with a modest Test average of 28.33 (one century) but a first class average of 34.7 (three centuries) to Andy's first class average of 34.81 (five centuries). Same difference.
Then, as good luck would have it, Carew's intended opening partner, Stollmeyer, was injured. Ganteaume was the obvious replacement.
Ganteaume was subsequently blamed for making his 112 in the first innings too slowly and thus causing the Test to be drawn. This was an unfair criticism because it was a two-hours rain delay on the final day, with the West Indies chasing 141 runs in three hours, that was the real cause.
In any event, only one of these two openers could play in the next Test, because a spot had to be found for Goddard, the pre-selected captain. While Ganteaume made a solid but unspectacular 112, his partner Carew made a swashbuckling 107, smashing England's most dangerous bowler, Jim Laker, all over Queens Park Oval. The contrast could not have been sharper. Carew was chosen over Andy for the next Test. That wasn't bad luck or prejudice. Just a proper exercise of plain selector discretion.
When the team was selected for the India tour months later, Carew was again preferred to Andy as the backup opener to Allan Rae and Stollmeyer. Clifford McWatt, a more competent keeper but not as good a batsman as Andy, was chosen as the backup to incumbent Clyde Walcott.
Stollmeyer, who attracts much of Andy's vitriol in his autobiography My Story, pointedly encouraged Andy not to give up the gloves. In a very warm letter dated August 10, 1948, Stollmeyer says: "Go behind the sticks next season and really give wicketkeeping plenty of attention. I think it will pay you dividends." Andy wouldn't listen. He dismissed vice captain Stollmeyer's advice thus: "Jeff wanted me to continue keeping wicket for Trinidad and Tobago in addition to our many successful partnerships together, as his letter and the note in his book that he gave me would show. I found combining the two specialist functions physically and mentally taxing, and I will continue to argue that such a request was unreasonable... When there is a long innings and after ten minutes the keeper has to open, that is not a reasonable request, I submit. I did not think it necessary for me to keep wicket to keep a place in the team…”
Ouch.
This from a man trying to crack a lineup of Rae and Stollmeyer, the most successful opening pair before Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, the three Ws, stylish Robert Christiani (another backup keeper) and allrounders Gerry Gomez and John Goddard! Contrast that with Pakistan's wicketkeeper/opener Imtiaz Ahmed (average 29.28), a fixture in his country's team from its Test debut: "I batted for Pakistan from Numbers 1-8 as asked by the captain or manager. Mostly I was asked to open the innings when the opposition had a fearsome pace attack.” He made 122 opening in the same 1958 Test Sobers broke the world record; he opened with Hanif Mohammed (337) and made 91 in that marathon match-saving total of 657-8 in the first Test; he made 135 v India at Chennai (1961) as opener.
No such inhibitions for England's Alec Stewart either. He opened and kept wicket in many Tests, most famously hitting 118 and 143 against West Indies in Barbados 1994.
Andy was also overlooked for the 1950 tour of England despite his 147 in the trials. He states: “After that tour (India) I was again left out of the one to England, I was told that he (Gerry Gomez, an influential member of The Establishment) said I missed the bus when I gave up wicketkeeping.”
Did Ganteaume make a fateful, career-damaging decision to give up wicketkeeping? I think he certainly did. Look what happened afterwards.
From its Test debut West Indies always looked for a wicketkeeper/batsman. The first captain, Karl Nunes (average 30.62 highest score 92), was one such, followed by Ivan Barrow who hit 105 as an opener versus England, a rare milestone in those days; Errol Hunte (average 33.20) who opened and kept wicket; Derek Sealy (average 28.11, highest score 92). After the War, Clyde Walcott filled the bill perfectly, even opening and keeping on debut.
But after Andy gave up the gloves following the 1948 Tests look at what happened. Specialist batsman Christiani, a fixture in the team, filled the role as backup keeper versus England (1950); Simpson Guillen (average 26.00, highest score 54) went to Australia/New Zealand (1951); West Indies Davis Cup tennis star Ralph Legall (average 10, highest score 23) and Alfred Binns (average 9.14, highest score 27) kept versus India (1952), Clifford McWatt (average 28.85, highest score 54), better known as ‘McCat’ for his nine lives in the Jamaica Test of 1954, kept versus England (1954); Clairmonte DePeiaza (average 31.16) had his hour of glory when he defied Australia for 122 with Denis Atkinson (219) in 1955 but didn't pass 16 in his other seven innings. Andy was a better batsman than any of them. He watched them from the pavilion.
Even today, much less back in the 1950s, a player age 36 was considered "old". Justifiable or not, that was the thinking. Yet, at the age of 36, having played little first class cricket and made very few runs since 1950, the same Establishment he rails against (with Kaseram’s blessing) recalled him for the 1957 England tour. He was not a success. He averaged 27.58 (highest score 92). Despite the failure of the other openers, Bruce Pairaudeau and Nyron Asgarali, he failed to crack the lineup for the first four Tests. Worrell and Sobers had to fill the gap. Rohan Kanhai, a brilliant batsman, but "a fieldsman with gloves" behind the stumps, kept wicket for three Tests before replaced by debutant Franz Alexander batting at Number 9. Andy watched from the pavilion.
By the time the team reached the Oval for the fifth Test, the rubber was already won 2-0 by England. In such circumstances it is not unusual for players who have not made the cut to be given a game. Paceman Tom Dewdney was brought in to replace Roy Gilchrist.
And what of Andy?
As a lawyer/journalist I prefer to rely on evidence and facts, not polemics and propaganda. So let's hear it from the mouth of the accused, so to speak. In his autobiography Andy states: "Just before the fifth Test I got 92 against Glamorgan... Frank Worrell had only just been brought on the selection committee... In the dressing room before the end of the match Frank made a hint about my playing in the forthcoming final Test. I did not respond but back in London we went out for a meal and there I told him I did not wish to play if it meant that my roommate Nyron Asgarali, a professional, would not. The pros got 75 pounds a Test match. In the event, I was in the 12 and on the morning of the match, on entering the dressing room, a gaunt-looking captain Goddard said to me, ‘Andy you are twelfth’.”
Perhaps just as well. As Andy looked on from the pavilion West Indies were routed for 89 and 86 by Jim Laker and Tony Lock on a brute of a pitch, including eight ducks.
Thus Andy Ganteaume kept his unique record and a good story for Kaseram – and many others before him – to write about how “The Establishment” did him in.
(Errol Townshend is a veteran journalist who has been watching West Indies cricket since 1950, and was a selector and administrator in Canada.)
India collapse
A commanding knock of 90 by Ambati Rayudu saw India wrap up their One Day International (ODI) series against New Zealand 4-1 when they won Sunday's final match in Wellington by 35 runs.
Rayudu rescued India from a disastrous start when the visitors were four for 18, steering his side to 252.
New Zealand's top order also went cheaply, before a 67-run stand by Kane Williamson and Tom Latham for the fourth wicket.
But after they went in quick succession Yuzvendra Chahal led a spin assault that saw the hosts all out for 217, with Chahal taking three lbw decisions for 41.
When Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat the pressure was on India to bounce back from their paltry 92-run defeat in the fourth ODI.
For a time it looked as if another failure was looming when Matt Henry and Trent Boult ripped out the first four wickets in under 10 overs.
But when the swing bowlers were taken out of the equation, Rayudu and Vijay Shankar toyed with the attack as New Zealand used another five bowlers in a fruitless search for a wicket.
The pair put on 98 for the fifth wicket before Shankar was run out at 45 through miscommunication.
Rayudu faced 84 deliveries to reach 44 and only 27 balls for his remaining 46 runs in an innings that included eight fours and four sixes.
He had a life on 60 when dropped by Boult and was eventually removed when Henry, New Zealand's most successful bowler, came back for his second spell.
Hardik Pandya provided late fireworks for India with 45 off 22 deliveries, while Henry finished with four for 35.
The New Zealand top order did not fare well with Colin Munro, recalled to replace an injured Martin Guptill, bowled on 24 after failing to make the most of his lifeline.
Ross Taylor faced four balls for one run before he was given out lbw and walked off without seeking a review only for television replays to show the ball would have missed the stumps.
It left New Zealand at three for 38 when Latham joined Williamson and grafted away for more than 15 overs. Williamson went for 39 and Latham followed three overs later for 37.
James Neesham threatened to get New Zealand up to their target when he whacked 44 off 32 deliveries before inexplicably running himself out.
When India fruitlessly appealed for a leg before decision, Neesham stepped out of his crease in search of a possible leg bye, unaware the ball had been picked up by wicketkeeper MS Dhoni who had an easy shot at the stumps.
The series now moves on to three T20 International matches beginning in Wellington today (Wednesday).
Match Summary: 5th ODI, Feb 3 2019 - India 252; New Zealand 217 (44.1/50 ov, target 253) - India won by 35 runs