The Story
West Indies Test side is currently in a transition. The young players are on the lookout for the crafty knocks that would define them in the future while the senior players are slowly correcting the dispute with the Windows board.
While all this is happening, the side isn’t giving any ray of optimism to the fans or the experts. After an underwhelming time against India and Pakistan, they embarked on the tour of England. This assignment could be defined as the toughest in recent times for the entire side.
And, as anticipated, the side had a poor start, slumping to an innings-and-209-run loss in three days in the first Test in Birmingham.
But, in the next Test, West Indies scripted one of the greatest fightbacks to chase down 322 level the series in Leeds. This kind of performance was surprising.
The fast bowling duo of Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel, who claimed four wickets each in the first innings, feels that fans should expect similar performance or better from their side ahead of the two-Test series against Zimbabwe, starting October 21.
Tough but motivating tour
After performing well above the expectations, Roach, who made a return to the side after recovering from a car accident, prided their perception-defying performance.
“It was [always] going to be a tough tour of England,” Roach said. “And I think the guys in the second Test came out and showed we can play cricket. So, once we go with the same mentality we had in the second Test against England, I think we will do a very good job on this tour here.”
“We proved a lot of people wrong [in England]. We have a young group of guys who believe in themselves,” Gabriel said.
Roach snapped 11 wickets at 29.81, including a five-wicket haul at Lord’s said that the line and lengths need to be adjusted according to the slower, drier pitches in Zimbabwe.
“Tough conditions in Zimbabwe – it’s my first time here,” Roach said. “So I’m trying to adapt as fast as possible and looking to win the series against Zimbabwe as well. They [The pitches] are pretty slow, quite a big difference from England. Obviously, it’s the drier part of the world, so you’ve got to adapt and get the lines and lengths right. I think [bowling] fuller is better here. Have to get the ball to do some stuff off the seam and be patient.”
Gabriel echoes similar thoughts
Gabriel, Roach’s new ball partner, also admitted that the Zimbabweans would not offer the Windies any pitch supporting pace and bounce.
“I don’t think they are going to give us a pitch with bounce of anything,” he said. “I think it is going to be a bit more slower, and a bit more turn and assistance for the spinners. So we need to adjust and come together as a team. Judging from the pitch we practised here, there is tennis-ball bounce.”
Zimbabwe is currently rising in a high after their 3-2 win over Sri Lanka in their first ODI series win away from home since 2009. Their performance in the one-off Test in Colombo was also commendable.
Zimbabwe will also draw confidence from the last time they faced West Indies. The side led by Graeme Cremer defeated Windies by five runs via D/L method to progress to the tri-series final against Sri Lanka last year. The return of Brendan Taylor and Kyle Jarvis also is a boost to the African nation.
Gabriel acknowledged the quality and wanted his side to stay away from being complacent.
“We are looking forward to these two games, and Zimbabwe have been playing some good cricket,” Gabriel said.
“They had some success against Sri Lanka in the one-day series and almost pulled off a victory in the Test match. Even when we played them in Zimbabwe in a one-day series, we fell short in one of the games. We don’t want to take them too lightly. We just want to go out there and perform to the best of our ability, and not be complacent.”