West Indies selectors must focus on rebuilding the fiery pace attack that the West Indies had in the seventies. It is evident in order to get back to the winning West Indies ways, the pace attack must be in place. Ravi Rampaul is a proven wicket taker, Kemar Roach and Fidel Edwards are extending their excellence.
The return of Jerome Taylor will generate confidence, improve team morale and enhance optimism among players. Devendra Bishoo has been performing well with the ball, he will remain the lone spinner in the test squad with the specialist batsmen in place.
Roach should be considered for the vice captain position for the West Indies next encounter. Lendl Simmons, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and many others are limited overs cricketers and they should not be forced into the Test arena.
The earlier the West Indies Cricket Board and its selectors get rid of their petty showdown with players, the image of West Indies cricket should be enhanced.
Aggressiveness Lacking
West Indies batsmen have failed to show the kind of aggressive batting that is needed primarily from the top order batsmen. Pakistani spin bowlers got the better control over the West Indies batsmenand now the Indian fast medium bowlers are toppling over West Indies batsmen on their own turf.
Adrian Barath has just rejoined the West Indies team after a long break and also missing the World Cup. He came back in Jamaica in the first Test match and scored a quality half century.
Limited Overs Specialist
Lendl Simmons scored heavily during the Pakistani and Indian Limited Overs Series but the test matches seemed to have caused a damper on his batting.
Simmons is a hard fighter at the crease but his aggressive techniques took a low because of some quality bowling from the opposition.
West Indies Batting
Bowlers seem to have been dominating the previous series with Pakistan and now bowlers are dominating the present series with India.
Both India and the West Indies bowlers have done well so far in the series. Ravi Rampaul has been triumphant for the West Indies. Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar have been sending down unanswered deliveries to Ramneresh Sarwan and Darren Bravo.
What seems to be very strange from a West Indies point of view is that no West Indies batsman has taken on the Indian bowlers. Where is the aggressiveness at least from the experienced Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramneresh Sarwan? Very, very poor cricket from the West Indies, particularly the batsmen.
Batting Failures
West Indies head Coach Ottis Gibson will have to answer many questions about the downfall of West Indies batting. Former West Indies opening batsman Desmond Haynes joined the coaching staff to assist the batsmen and nothing significant seemed to have been achieved. The earlier Chris Gayle, wicket-keeper/batsman Denesh Ramdim and fast bowler Jerome Taylor return to the Windies squad, the better it will be for West Indies cricket. Gayle has his batting flaws but his presence in any batting line up creates panic in the opposition.
