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West Indies lacking depth

Altus Momberg

Cape Town – The West Indies’ batting will have to improve dramatically if they want to prevent the South African cricket team from wrapping up the Test series in Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis.

The home team’s bowling attack for the second Test has been strengthened by the return of pace bowler Kemar Roach. He has recovered from an ankle injury.

The fact that the return of a 21-year-old, who has played only five Tests, is seen as a dramatic strengthening, shows up the lack of depth in the West Indies’ attack.

Ravi Rampaul and Nelon Pascal did not manage to take a wicket between them in the first Test. Rather, it was two spinners - Sulieman Benn and Shane Shillingford – that spearheaded the Windies’ attack.

The spinners bowled very well and it was certainly not their fault that the home team lost the first Test.

The Windies’ batsmen were pathetic and did not have an answer to pace bowlers Morné Morkel and Dale Steyn. They were dismissed for just 102 in the first innings.

No changes to the home side’s batting order are anticipated. The wicket at Warner Park in Basseterre is considered a batsman’s paradise and that is also how members of the Proteas management perceive it.

They expect the bowlers to struggle to bowl out a team twice. Warner Park is one of the stadiums built for the World Cup in 2007.

Only one Test has been played on the ground and that was a draw between the Windies and India in 2006.

The Windies then scored 581 in their first innings with Ramnaresh Sarwan and Darren Ganga both managing centuries.

The home side will therefore hope to win the toss, bat first and amass a huge total. Their spinners will then have to bowl the Proteas out twice.

But what will happen if the Proteas win the toss? South Africa will approach the match with a lot more confidence after winning the first Test.

They were concerned about the first Test after not having much preparation following months of Twenty20 and one-day cricket.

The general feeling is that they will only get better now that the first Test is out of the way.

The teams are:


West Indies (from):
Chris Gayle (captain), Dwayne Bravo, Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Brendan Nash, Nelon Pascal, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach­, Darren Sammy, Shane Shillingford.

South Africa (from):
Graeme Smith (captain) Jacques­ Kallis, Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Paul Harris, Ryan McLaren, Morné Morkel, Alviro Petersen, Ashwell Prince, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
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