ADELAIDE, Australia, CMC – Captain Kraigg Brathwaite believes an increase in the number of Tests played by West Indies will lead to an improvement in the side’s batting, providing the crucial experience needed for the young unit.
The seasoned opener, a veteran of 88 Tests, said with the number of inexperienced players in the current side, more international cricket was required in order to quickly bring them up to speed, especially against world-rated attacks like Australia’s.
“We need to play a lot more games. Last year we played six games … I pretty much wouldn’t mind if we played six games or back-to-back series because I think you’ve got to play to learn,” Brathwaite said in the wake of West Indies’ 10-wicket defeat in the opening Test at Adelaide Oval.
“And I think it’s hard for a guy to play [a series] – let’s say he fails or he succeeds – but then your next Test match is six months away.
“So it’s pretty hard to learn as a batsman because I think you learn when you’re out there playing and experiencing what world class bowlers do, so I think we need a lot more Test cricket.”
He continued: “This year is pretty good for us. To be honest, [we have] nine games which is great for us. We have first class cricket when we go back so it’s a good year but I just think generally, the more games we can play, plus obviously funding, would be great.
“But we need to play more cricket for us guys to gain that experience then to go on and continuously perform against world class players.”
West Indies will play the final Test of the short two-match series in Brisbane starting Thursday, and are also expected to face Pakistan, England and then South Africa later in the year.
The Caribbean side fielded a plethora of inexperienced batsmen in the first Test here this week, with debutants Kavem Hodge and Justin Greaves surrounded by the likes of Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Alick Athanaze and Kirk McKenzie, none of whom has yet played 10 Tests.
Predictably, they struggled against Australia’s pace attack, collapsing for 188 and 120 as West Indies suffered a 10-wicket thrashing inside three days.
The only real standout was 23-year-old left-hander McKenzie who made a fluent half-century – exactly 50 – in the first innings and followed up with an equally polished 26 in the second innings.
Brathwaite said McKenzie’s example was one for the entire batting group to follow.
“I think they should get a lot of confidence from playing the number one team and the number one bowlers, and it shows them that they can do it,” Brathwaite said.
“Kirk got a fifty and 20-odd in the second innings so it shows he has the ability to score runs against world class bowlers. And the other guys, they didn’t get runs but from watching Kirk they know that ‘well look, we can get it done.’ It’s all mental.”
He added: “Obviously [the Australian bowlers] are very consistent but you will get a bad ball in between. We keep having the conversations but for me it’s all around being mentally tough because they’re going to come at you.
“They’re the number one bowlers in the world and that alone could put a batsman under pressure but Kirk showed you can get runs against these.”
