West Indies – India First Test Takeaways

Most of us would have thought that the ODI squad’s failure to qualify for the ICC World Cup later this year, would be the lowest of lows for West Indies cricket. Lo and behold, however, last week the Test team took us to an even lower level of despair and despondency, losing to India in the first Test by an innings and 141 runs with two full days to spare, the largest-ever West Indies defeat to India at home.

Much of the embarrassment caused by the West Indies’ pathetic showing in the Dominica Test can be attributed to the batsmen, who succumbed meekly to India’s bowling. Spearheaded by their two twin-Ravi spinners, Ashwin and Jadeja, India’s bowlers carved through the West Indies batting in both innings, dismissing the hosts for scores of 150 in the first innings and 130 in the second. The West Indies bowlers did not fare any better, capturing only five of the 20 Indian wickets.

While most of the West Indies batsmen struggled to even reach double figures, India’s new-found batting sensation, 21-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal, stroked a majestic 171 Test century on debut. It was a masterclass of Test match batting that the far more experienced West Indies batsmen would do themselves a major service to learn from.

So apart from Jaiswal’s batting tutorial, what then were the other takeaways from that opening Test that those who are now in charge of attempting to halt the unending slide of West Indies cricket can take note of? Neither time nor space will permit a complete listing of the entire litany of lessons to be learned. A condensed listing of the most pertinent will, therefore, have to suffice.

Firstly, there must be something radically wrong with the very first match of an important home series, as the commencement of a new two-year ICC Test Championship cycle and against one of the world’s best teams, being played on a pitch that turned viciously from the very first day and was gift wrapped for India’s world-class spinners.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) president, Dr Kishore Shallow would be well advised to request a comprehensive report from all concerned as to how and why that occurred. And if there is any truth to the reports that a pitch curator arrived in Dominica just three days before the Test began, Dr. Shallow’s inquiries should be that much more serious.

Hopefully, those in charge of the pitch at Trinidad’s Queens Park Oval, the venue for the scheduled July 20-24 second Test, will have learned sufficiently to take all the necessary steps to avoid any repetition of that debacle.

The second takeaway from the Dominica Test would be that the West Indies’ batting is now in dire need of a revamp. Based on the announced squad for the second Test it seems evident that the selection panel is of the view that Raymon Reifer as the West Indies number three has been a monumental failure.

Young Alick Athanaze was given his debut opportunity against the vaunted Indian bowling attack and passed with flying colors, emerging as the West Indies’ best batsmen during the opening Test. In the same manner, the similarly young and yet untried Kirk McKenzie will hopefully, now be allowed to bat at number three in the second Test.

Despite many opportunities, Jermaine Blackwood, the current West Indies vice-captain, has failed to curtail his poor shot selection habits that invariably cause him to fall woefully short of playing the responsible types of innings expected of him. As such the time has also come for his replacement to be seriously considered! The Trinidad Test should be Blackwood’s final opportunity to prove his worthiness. If he fails to do so he should then be dropped and replaced by Shai Hope, the current West Indies ODI captain.

Hope’s inclusion would also send a strong message to the incumbent wicket-keeper-batsman Joshua DaSilva, that his position in the team is not in any way guaranteed. DaSilva’s Test scores as a batsman have been worryingly headed in the wrong direction of late.

With regards to the bowling, like India the West Indies also played two spinners in Dominica, correctly anticipating that the pitch would provide far more assistance to those of that variety than to any seamers.

The difference was that whereas India’s spinners Aswin and Jadeja were world-class in their abilities to fully exploit all that the pitch had to offer, the West Indies duo of Rakheem Cornwall and Jomel Warrican utterly failed to do likewise. Indeed, it was the part-time off-spinner debutant Athanaze who finally achieved the breakthrough for the West Indies by capturing the first Indian wicket to fall, that of the skipper Rohit Sharma. Unfortunately, by the time he had done so the Indians had already posted 229 for the first wicket, with both openers Sharma and Jaiswal having recorded their centuries.

Takeaway lesson number three from Dominica should be that neither Cornwall nor Warrican is worthy of a place in the regional side.

Cornwall fell ill with a reported chest infection very early on the first day and was absent for a significant proportion of India’s innings. He now looks to be heavier than ever before, to such a degree that his overall fitness and the associated ability to withstand the rigors of five-day Test match cricket must surely come into question.

The West Indies bowling attack looked listless and distinctly lacking in penetration for the majority of the first Test. Alzarri Joseph, while being impressively pacy at times, was frustratingly inconsistent with his lines and lengths while proving to be expensive in the process.

At the other end of the scale, Jason Holder was as miserly as ever, conceding only 40 runs from his 18 overs bowled. Holder, however, rarely troubled any of the Indian batsmen and his lack of penetration must now be a bit of a worry for West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite.

The biggest concern coming out of the Dominica Test, however, relates to the longevity of the West Indies seam attack spearhead by Kemar Roach. Now aged 35, having celebrated his birthday this past June 30, Roach ended the Test with figures of 1/50 from 24 overs. There were at least two straightforward catches dropped off his bowling, so his final figures should have been that much better.

Overall though, Roach rarely threatened any of the Indian batsmen. Sufficiently not so as to rekindle the ongoing debate as to how much longer he can continue to lead the West Indies pace attack. Roach’s match returns from his last 20 Tests, dating back to November 2021 at Galle, Sri Lanka, have been 1, 1, 0, 5, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 3, 0, 5, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2 and 0. That’s a total of five Tests in which he didn’t capture any wickets at all and six Tests where he only claimed a solitary scalp.

West Indies are only scheduled to play 13 matches in the current 2023-25 ICC Test Championship cycle, three of which will be against England next summer. As to whether Roach will be spearheading the West Indies attack by then will, therefore, be anybody’s guess. The track and conditions at Trinidad’s Queen’s Park Oval should be far more suitable to Roach’s style of bowling than Dominica was. His performance in the Test could, therefore, serve to provide meaningful indications of his future.

About The Writer:

Guyana-born, Tony McWatt is the Publisher of both the WI Wickets and Wickets/monthly online cricket magazines that are respectively targeted toward Caribbean and Canadian readers. He is also the only son of the former Guyana and West Indies wicket-keeper batsman the late Clifford “Baby Boy” McWatt. ]]>