A former West Indies opening batsman who is now a batting consultant for the West Indies cricket team, Desmond Haynes, said he is extremely pleased with the West Indies’ batting display in the first innings of the third and final Test match against India at Wankhede Stadium where they created history.
Haynes, who played 116 Test matches for the Windies and is rated as one of the greatest batsmen of all times, said whereas the batsmen’s confidence was lacking before, they are now showing a lot of fight.
“We saw that in the second innings at Eden Gardens when we made over 450 runs after being asked to follow on. The players are now showing commitment and good shot selection and that is very good,” said Haynes.
“This is history created by the batting display because this is the first time such a feat was made by the West Indies team when all top six batsmen scored half centuries and only the fifth time in Test match history,” Haynes said.
The former right-handed opener who joined the West Indies team as batting consultant in April ahead of the Digicel Series against Pakistan said, “We always speak about partnerships and going into that Test match without the experienced Chanderpaul. One could not have asked for any more,” Haynes said.
“When one looks at both teams, India’s combined batsmen had 140 hundreds between them while West Indies only had seven. The West Indies batsmen really had to be commended for their role. Teenager Kraigg Braithwaite hit a career best of 68 from 188 balls; 21-year-old Adrian Barath 62 from 148 balls; Kirk Edwards 86 from 165 balls; Kieran Powell 81 from 149 balls and Darren Bravo 166 from 284 balls as he and Powell shared a stand of 164 runs for the third wicket, the highest for West Indies against India in India.”
Marlon Samuels who was the most experienced batsman in the West Indies team in that Test hit 61 from 103 balls.
Haynes said from since he was playing with West Indies, he heard the talk that West Indies batsmen cannot play spin, but he is confident that the batsmen can do the job that is required of them. “We can only go from strength to strength.”
(Source http://www.antiguaobserver.com/?p=67786)
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