West Indies captain, Kraigg Brathwaite will look for consistent batting and disciplined bowling to break the stalemate following the drawn first test against England.
On the other hand, the visitors will look to newbie, Saqib Mahmood, who wikll be making his test debut to make an impact in the second test which gets underway from today at Kensington Oval, Barbados from 10.00 hours.
History is in the hosts’ favour after they won successive matches against England at the venue, most recently in 2019 when Kemar Roach bagged a five-wicket haul, Roston Chase took g 8-60 and Jason Holder scored a double hundred.
Brathwaite has said that he is happy with his team’s batting in the first Test.
During a pre-match conference after the last training session he said, “I think we just got to deal with the processes. I think that is important. Obviously, you know Bonner (Nkrumah) led the way with the batting last time and we got 350 in the first innings and it is trying to repeat that and being consistent with getting runs.”
The captain himself would be licking his lips on his home ground but reasoned that he will be batting “pretty normal” and try to put away bad balls as they come.
Brathwaite and the returning John Campbell shared half-century partnerships at the top of the order in both innings. Brathwaite did not explicitly state if all-rounder Kyle Mayers could make a return to the playing XI but contended that he could be of all-round value in the familiar conditions of his home country.
If Mayers is to play, it would mean Shamarh Brooks would be left out of the side as Bonner did most of the heavy lifting in the last Test while Jermaine Blackwood is the vice-captain.
Brathwaite feels the bowling, could be “a bit more disciplined in terms of the middle periods probably a little tighter under three runs an over, creating that pressure will help to get more wickets in the middle order.”
Brathwaite said that there was no question that Kemar Roach will be looked upon to lead the bowling attack which likely include a spinner with the pitch looking to spin in the coming days. Veerasammy Permaul is the lone spinner in the squad.
“He has been remarkable for West Indies to be honest; I look forward to him leading the way. He has been leading the way for us on and off the field and I look forward to him bringing that energy to the bowling unit,” he said of Roach.
Roach is set to move up the list of leading wicket takers for West Indies with one wicket putting him ahead of Sir Gary Sobers’ tally of 235 and into seventh place and 14 wickets away from Michael Holding.
Injury to England’s Mark Wood has paved the way for Mahmood who pushes the 90mph mark, to be included.
