Coley, Brathwaite: Versatility key for success vs South Africa

VERSATILITY in all areas remains a top priority for West Indies if they are to make a winning start to their two-match Test series against hosts South Africa, which bowls off with the opener in Centurion on Tuesday.

This was the sentiment shared by both maroon head coach Andre Coley and Test team skipper Kraigg Brathwaite on Saturday, after they battled to a drawn result against a South Africa XI, in a three-day warm-up match on Friday.

Coley and Brathwaite agree South Africa would be a tougher test than their recent stint in Zimbabwe and both believe the key to success is to ensure they’re at their best in all aspects of the game.

In a Cricket West Indies interview on Saturday, Coley said, “You want to maintain standards and discipline. Catching behind the wicket, because the ball tends to bounce more consistently here, it’s something we have to make sure we’re on top of.

“The lengths that we bowl, our consistency, making sure we plan well. From a batting standpoint, ensuring there are consistent partnerships throughout the innings from top right through to the bottom.

“Just ensuring we’re able to tick those boxes, and as the game progresses, showing an awareness in terms of what game situation we may find ourselves in and just working together as a team to ensure that we tackle that well.”

Brathwaite, all-rounder and West Indies opening batsman, sees his team “doing well” and is “quite confident” they can produce a series-winning performance.

He expressed pleasure with their display, both with the bat and ball, in the practice match and wants an all-round effort from his squad to gain early momentum ahead of the multi-format tour.

In the first innings, West Indies scored 289/9 from 89 overs, with Jason Holder (58), Joshua Da Silva (55), Raymon Reifer (38) and Roston Chase (30) among the runs.

The hosts responded with 317 all out – a lead of 28 runs – led by opener Wiaan Lubbe (72) and Dewald Brevis (50), with West Indies practice team debutant and pacer Akeem Jordan (3/34) and spinner Roston Chase (3/98) bagging three wickets apiece.

In the second innings, West Indies got to 208/8 after 49 overs on the final day, forcing the match to end in a draw. Here, Da Silva made 44, Jermaine Blackwood 40, Kyle Mayers 38, Holder 32 and Kemar Roach finished on 29 not out.

Overall, Brathwaite was pleased.

“I think it (practice match) was decent. I was really happy with the bowling effort yesterday. The aim was to bowl out the team in the day and in doing that, I thought it was good.

“Batting-wise, I think we could have been better but I’m still happy that guys spent time in the middle and we really look forward to this Test series.

On Holder and Da Silva’s batting contributions, he added, “I see them doing well. It was good to see those two guys getting runs and I feel good. I’m quite confident we’ll do well in this series as batters.”

Reflecting on their bowling performances, Brathwaite said, “I think building pressure is very important as a bowling unit. I thought those two guys (Jordan and Chase) yesterday stuck to the task.

“We saw Jordan coming in for his first game for WI and he showed good skill and control. Roston had a number of overs to bowl and it was decent. One or two overs went for a few runs but I thought he did a good job.

“In South Africa, bowlers will get some assistance from the pitch but it’s important to not get carried away. Once we stay disciplined and bowl to the field we have set, mixed with some aggression, I think we will do well.”

Brathwaite closed by saying their preparation is all mental now.

“Especially the batsmen, just to get in that mental zone, how you want to go about spending time and scoring runs and bowler to get some good rest and go through the paces in the nets in the next three days. It’s all mental.”