Dear Editor,
I was at Sabina Park recently (June 13 - 14, 2015) and I saw the West Indies cricket team being beaten in a Test match by a superior Australian team. The humiliation was not only from the innings defeat, it also came from the fact that they declared early, audaciously giving us more than two days to make 392. We only managed a paltry 114.
But I took away something positive from the match. I saw Jason Holder bat and bowl. Here is a young cricketer who has the makings of the batting all-rounder for whom we have been searching.
On Saturday, he batted with poise and assurance, looking like someone who should bat higher up the order. However, in terms of his bowling, I don't think that even he, in his alone moments, sees himself as a strike bowler; someone who is going to have too many '5 - for' performances during his career. But, he is integral to what I'm suggesting should be a revised, one could say recalled, formation of the West Indies Test cricket team.
At present, the West Indies is using a 6-2-3 formation: six specialist batsmen; wicketkeeper and all-rounder; and three specialist bowlers. With this formation, it seems that, unwittingly, the team is in the mode of playing to draw matches, rather than to win. We end up losing, anyway, as we are not getting teams out as efficiently as we should.
Rather, we should be employing a 5-2-4 formation, with five specialist batsmen; all-rounder and wicketkeeper, and four specialist bowlers (preferably three genuine wicket-taking pace bowlers and our best spinner). This would give us a better chance of consistently bowling out other teams within gettable scores, thereby enhancing our chances of winning more Test matches.
It may be argued that, at present, we don't have the number of quality strike bowlers. My suggestion is that we put the policy in
place then do the necessary developmental work to unearth the talent.
Winning is not everything. However, we need to give ourselves a chance.
Peter E Powell
powellp@aicJamaica.com
Windies need to change formation
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I was at Sabina Park recently (June 13 - 14, 2015) and I saw the West Indies cricket team being beaten in a Test match by a superior Australian team. The humiliation was not only from the innings defeat, it also came from the fact that they declared early, audaciously giving us more than two days to make 392. We only managed a paltry 114.
But I took away something positive from the match. I saw Jason Holder bat and bowl. Here is a young cricketer who has the makings of the batting all-rounder for whom we have been searching.
On Saturday, he batted with poise and assurance, looking like someone who should bat higher up the order. However, in terms of his bowling, I don't think that even he, in his alone moments, sees himself as a strike bowler; someone who is going to have too many '5 - for' performances during his career. But, he is integral to what I'm suggesting should be a revised, one could say recalled, formation of the West Indies Test cricket team.
At present, the West Indies is using a 6-2-3 formation: six specialist batsmen; wicketkeeper and all-rounder; and three specialist bowlers. With this formation, it seems that, unwittingly, the team is in the mode of playing to draw matches, rather than to win. We end up losing, anyway, as we are not getting teams out as efficiently as we should.
Rather, we should be employing a 5-2-4 formation, with five specialist batsmen; all-rounder and wicketkeeper, and four specialist bowlers (preferably three genuine wicket-taking pace bowlers and our best spinner). This would give us a better chance of consistently bowling out other teams within gettable scores, thereby enhancing our chances of winning more Test matches.
It may be argued that, at present, we don't have the number of quality strike bowlers. My suggestion is that we put the policy in
place then do the necessary developmental work to unearth the talent.
Winning is not everything. However, we need to give ourselves a chance.
Peter E Powell
powellp@aicJamaica.com
Windies need to change formation
-->