Player patience

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Captain Jason Holder hopes selectors can persist with some players despite a wretched tour of New Zealand that saw West Indies thrashed by an innings inside four days in both Tests.

The touring side’s specialist batsmen came under heavy scrutiny in both matches with only Jermaine Blackwood among them managing to reach triple figures, with 104 in the second innings of the first Test at Seddon Park in Hamilton.

He was just one of two top six batsmen to pass fifty on the tour – the other being opener John Campbell who started the series under pressure to maintain his place in the side.

After scoring a meagre 84 runs in three Tests on last July’s tour of England, Campbell scraped 42 in his first three Test innings against New Zealand before hitting a defiant top score of 68 in the second innings of the second Test.

And Holder said he hoped Campbell, along with other players, received the support they required on and off the field.

“He hasn’t gotten the runs we were looking for but more or less when you look around the region for Test openers or first class openers, they’re not many to choose from,” Holder said.

“We had Shayne Moseley who got a hundred in the A team game yesterday (Sunday) so that’s another positive for us but more or less we still need guys to be churning out runs a little bit more often.

“I like to give people a fair opportunity, a fair run. Hopefully we can give our players a little more support, not only by selecting them but by putting more programmes in place for them to work with some coaches, do a little more one-on-one stuff and just fine-tune their games a little better.”

Blackwood topped the aggregates for West Indies with 216 runs at an average of 54 but of the top six batsmen, only Campbell (110) with an average of 27, passed 100 runs in the two Tests.

In four innings, main opener Kraigg Brathwaite scraped 55 runs, Shamarh Brooks managed 53 while experienced left-hander Darren Bravo gathered a paltry 32.

Roston Chase, expected to be the mainstay of the middle order, endured a nightmare tour with just 17 runs – including a dreaded ‘pair’ in the second Test.

West Indies passed 250 just once – in the second innings of the second Test when they managed 317 in an innings and 12-run defeat at the Basin Reserve.

And they were twice bowled out for less than 150 – dismissed for 138 in the first innings of the Hamilton first Test and for 131 in the first innings here.

“We were good in patches but still not good enough,” Holder conceded.

“We’ve just not been consistent over a period of time. We’ve done a lot of great things but we just have not been able to string it together, more often than not.

“New Zealand is a very good team in their backyard. They do it against most if not all the opposition teams that come over here to play. Not making an excuse but they’re very good in their conditions.

“What I do expect, however, from this group is a little bit more consistency than we have been giving in the recent past. We’ve just got to be better.”

Holder said many of the players were now tired after a difficult year, especially travelling amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and were in need of rest before the upcoming assignments in January.

“It has been a tough year not only for the team but I know for me personally it has been tough,” said the 29-year-old all-rounder, who struck 61 in the second innings here.

“I haven’t seen home in six months now. We’ve been going non-stop – we’ve had pay cuts – and it’s a situation where you’re still trying to make a living and still looking to make use of every opportunity that you get.

“But having said that, going from bubble to bubble, being isolated in a room, sometimes the room just gets smaller and smaller by the second. I know a few guys have some tired minds – we’ve been on the road for a little while.

“It will be good for the guys to get home for Christmas and spend some time with their families. Hopefully some of them get there in time … this will be much needed rest for some players to just refresh and come back.”

(BT)