Bad batting blamed for Test loss (1 December 1998)

1 December 1998

Bad batting blamed for Test loss

The Jamaica Gleaner

Two former Jamaica and West Indies opening batsmen, Basil Williams and Easton McMorris, have blamed bad batting for West Indies' defeat in the first Test against South Africa.

Williams said the failure of Brian Lara in both innings 'hampered' the West Indies' batting performance.

"We cannot always depend on our bowlers to defend low scores, we need our batsmen to be more consistent and produce much bigger totals," Williams said.

Williams, the current chairman of the Jamaica cricket selectors, said former opener Stuart Williams "cannot handle the middle-order position" and must bat at number three with Lara dropping to four," he concluded.

McMorris called on Lara to spend some time in the nets before the start of the next Test if he wants to score more runs. He recommended a top six batting order of openers Clayton Lambert and Philo Wallace, Williams at three, Shivnarine Chanderpaul four, Lara five and Carl Hooper six.

"We had a good chance to win the first Test match after claiming the two early wickets as I thought Lara would rotate the vanguards (Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh). If we were to win those two would have had to take the wickets," McMorris said.

He continued: "When Ambrose was taken off and they bowled pacer Nixon McLean in tandem with spinner Rawle Lewis, the pressure was reduced on the South Africans. When Lara brought back Ambrose and Walsh too many runs were already on the board and at that time the batsmen had clawed their way confidently towards the total," McMorris said.

Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/)