Kemar Roach and Justin Greaves (Source: AFP)
The West Indies pulled off an exciting and thrilling draw in the game, where a defeat was visible on the cards when they were struggling at the score of 72 runs for the loss of four wickets while chasing mammoth 531-run target. This draw has attracted a lot of praise from the analysts and former cricketers, including the former India great Ravichandran Ashwin.
This draw finds its roots in the valiant fourth-inning double century scored by the Caribbean all-rounder Justin Greaves, who played an unbeaten knock of 202 runs off 388 balls, with 19 fours. Before his game-changing knock, Shai Hope also played a vital role with his 140-run knock.
Hence, here’s a look at some factors which makes this draw significant and ‘not less than a win’ for the Caribbean side who has been struggling in Test cricket for a long time.
Injecting a winning and fighting mindset
While chasing a huge target of 531 runs in the fourth innings, the draw in Christchurch was looking ‘too far’ for West Indies when skipper Roston Chase was dismissed off Matt Henry, getting caught behind the wickets by his Kiwi counterpart Tom Latham. It was the time when a defeat was heading towards the Caribbean as they lost almost half of their team at the double-digit score of just 72 runs in 28.3 overs.
Then a well-fought partnership of 196 runs for the second wicket between Shai Hope and Justin Greaves came up as a ray of hope for the visitors. This partnership broke when Hope’s 140-run knock came to an end, as Latham caught him behind the wickets off Jacob Duffy. Within a span of just nine runs, WI found themselves again in trouble, losing Tevin Imlach (4) off Zak Foulkes.
But what happened next is something that might become an inspiration for the revival of West Indies in the Tests. All-rounder Justin Greaves stood there strongly with the lower order batter Kemar Roach to save the game for his side. The duo stitched an unbeaten partnership of 180 runs to push NZ away from the victory.
Greaves’ unbeaten 202-run knock accompanied by Kemar Roach’s well-fought 58 runs off 233 balls, with eight fours had a mix of perseverance, fighting intent and a grit that took their side to end the game on an equal note. So, this partnership and the way Greaves and Roach carried themselves is going to inject a fighting intent and a winning mindset in the Caribbean camp to come out of their ‘struggle’ phase in the longest format of the game.
Guiding path to a stable Test squad
Speaking of the performers for the West Indies who played a crucial role in this draw and escaping a defeat in the Test series opener, the bowlers jointly displayed a brilliant performance to bundle out the Kiwis at the score of 231 innings. Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Justin Greaves, and Ojay Shields scalped two wickets each, alongside a wicket each bagged by Johann Layne and skipper Roston Chase.
Following this, opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Shai Hope scored two crucial half-centuries to help avoid a low-total all-out. Later in the second innings, Kemar Roach shone with the ball again and claimed a five-wicket haul, picking five wickets for 78 runs. Apart from him, Jayden Seales and Ojay Shields bagged one and two wickets, respectively.
Furthermore, the batting duo of Shai Hope (140) and Justin Greaves (202) stitched a game-changing partnership followed by another batting brilliance by the lower order Kemar Roach (58 runs off 233 balls).
These performances are something that gives a ‘food for thought’ to selectors to consider about this mix and give them ample time to bring stability in the Caribbean side. It also paves the way to a perfect and long-term stable squad for the West Indies to make a decent comeback in Test cricket after the years of downfall and debacles.
Conclusion: A time to invest and trust in players for WI?
After analysing the above two factors, what becomes more important for West Indies is that their cricket board now needs to invest and trust the current set of players for a bit more time to get them established.
It is also very necessary for Cricket West Indies to resolve all the possible issues with the cricketers and their inclination towards the T20 franchise leagues across the world. Resolving this issue is the only possible way to encourage the Caribbean players for the traditional format of the game.
