It Is Now Up To Who Wants It More

The first day of this Test match was one of the better days on tour thus far. The bowlers bowled well and we probably surprised most folks by being able to contain the English batsmen especially in the second session of the day after they batted well in the first session and were cruising at lunch time.

There is no doubt that Fidel Edwards' pace shook them up. Fidel came into this game and brought a different package, he had a lot of the English batsmen playing tentatively. He hurried their strokeplay with pace but also bowled with some amount of control as well.

Darren Sammy bowled well on debut. He did what the captain, Daren Ganga, also his first game as captain asked him to do by bowling a lot of dot balls and maiden overs. He built up the pressure from one end. It was obviously the pressure which gave him his first Test wicket, that of England opener Alastair Cook who was brilliantly caught by Dwayne 'Johnny' Bravo at gully.

Corey Collymore, the workhorse of our bowling attack and Jerome Taylor bowled well in partnerships as well and were rewarded with wickets. Corey in particular bowled a lot of very testing and maybe teasing deliveries to the English batsmen and had them quiet for the most part. In the meantime Bravo was trying his best to contain whenever he bowled as well.

All in all our bowlers did a good job on the first day and the first innings in general.

Overnight our plan was to get the remaining England batsmen out as quickly as possible. On the other hand the England batsmen came out trying to be a lot more aggressive and runs were scored quickly but we were able to get them out in the first hour for a competitive score.

In the batting department I don't think there was much sustained penetration by the England bowling attack. Our batting performance was mostly due to bad shot selection and a lack of discipline and application at the crease.

I think we all know where we went wrong. We did not build enough partnerships and did not spend time at the crease. We now find ourselves playing catch up cricket again. It is crucial for us to be disciplined in the second innings when we bowl and bat. We have to take away the boundary deliveries and make the English batsmen work hard for their runs. And we have to take all the chances which come our way.

On the third day the morning session would be very important. If we can pick up a few wickets quickly then England can be on the back-foot and the game can be in our favour with a lot of time still left in the Test match. It is the old cliché now of which team wants it more.