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SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 11, 2014
Windies eye improvement, series win in second T20
Fast bowler Jason Holder JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, (CMC) – West Indies are keen to improve on their display in Cape Town and wrap up their three-match Twenty20 International series here today, when they face South Africa in the second game at the Wanderers.
The Caribbean side broke their losing slump coming out of the Test
series by hammering the Proteas by four wickets in the opening T20I at Newlands on Friday.
However, captain Darren Sammy said his side would be taking nothing for granted as they chased victory again in an attempt to seal the series with a game to go. “It will be a different venue and we have to start
all over again. It is about wrapping up the series tomorrow so that on the 14th we can give the guys who missed out an opportunity to play,” Sammy said yesterday. “It’s a new game. We know we’re playing South Africa, a good side, so we have to go out there and put in another display like we did in Cape Town and look to claim the series after the second game.” Chasing 166 for victory, West Indies were inspired by fit-again opener Chris Gayle who stunned South Africa with an assault that yielded a top score of 77 off just 31 deliveries. He smashed five fours and eight sixes en route to the fastest T20 half-century by a West Indies player off just 17 balls. He and put on 78 for the first wicket with Dwayne Smith who made 20 and another 36 for the second wicket with the in-form Marlon Samuels whose 41 came off 37 balls. “It was a good way to start the T20 series, our first match for the year. I think it was a clinical victory and even through it went to the last over which
I thought it shouldn’t have, we will take that against the Proteas,” Sammy explained. “In the team meeting I told the guys to just go out and play freely. We play all over the world and excite everybody, so when we play for West Indies I want them to have that same sort of freedom and the calibre of players we have in our T20 line up, allows us to go out there and do that. “It was good to sit in the dugout and watch Gayle and Smith put on another fifty partnership in quick time and that took the game away from South Africa. Jason Holder up front started off well with the new ball. All in all it was a good outing even though we can still improve on a few areas.” And improvements are what Sammy wants, both in the field and with the bat. When South Africa batted, the Windies had moments of lapses which allowed the hosts to recover from 33 for two in the fifth over and reach 165 for four. In their turn at the crease, West Indies were cruising at 147 for two in the 16th over but lost four quick wickets for
17 runs in the space of 24 deliveries, to extend the game to the last over “Wanderers normally is a very, very good wicket. I think on average it is a 170-run wicket so the margin for error becomes even slimmer,” Sammy pointed out. “We had a number of occasions [in the last game] when we bowled, that the first ball and last ball of the over went for boundaries so if we can start our overs and close them off well, it’s the difference between the over going for ten [runs] instead of seven or six. That we can improve on.” He continued: “We were not as clinical in the field as we usually are. We missed out on some half chances which could have been costly for us so we could improve on that. “That [batting] collapse there in the end where we lost a few wickets with probably 19 runs to go. Those areas we can improve so that when we have the opposition on the back foot we can keep pegging away at them.” The game bowls off at 3 pm (9.00am Eastern Caribbean time)
India must learn from Australia’s bowlers, says Kohli By Nick Mulvenney
SYDNEY,(Reuters) - Virat Kohli was proud of the way his team battled for a draw in his first match as permanent Test skipper but said India’s pace attack needed to emulate Australia’s quicks if they were to progress as a power in the longest form of the game. India flirted with what would have been an incredible fourth innings run chase at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday having been set 349 for victory after Australia’s overnight declaration. They were forced back on the defensive first by some stifling bowling from the Australians and then into a rearguard action when they lost five wickets for 57 runs after tea on the final day. That Ajinkya Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar saw them safely to the end of play and a draw was further evidence that there is not much wrong with India’s batting but the failure of their bowlers to exert pressure cost them dear in a 2-0 series defeat. “Certainly we have a lot to learn from the Australian bowlers, especially someone like Josh Hazlewood who’s playing his first few games here and he’s put the ball in the right spot all three Test matches,” Kohli said. “That’s something we need to work on big time if you want to win Test matches. “Eventually, you have to take 20 wickets
if you want to win a test match. That’s how simple and plain it is. “The more composure the bowlers have in future and the more consistent they are the more chances we give ourselves to win test matches.” Asked specifically what he thought was lacking in India’s pace bowlers, Kohli said there were several factors. “The skill is there or else they wouldn’t be playing for India,” he said. “You just need to character to say, ‘okay, I am tired but I’ll still pick two wickets for the team’. It’s to do with wanting to bowl that second and third spell for the team.” Kohli’s own performances with the bat were one of the highlights of the series for tourists with four centuries and 692 runs, the second highest tally in an overseas series for an Indian batsman. He also received one of the highest compliments an Australian cricket crowd can pay an opponent -- being booed to the crease when he came out to bat. “They have booed me but I know they have liked the way we have played our cricket,” he said. “To have the whole Australian crowd and 11 players who want to irritate me and get me out has been challenging but it has been enjoyable. “It has brought out the best in me. This is certainly the best test series that I have had so far.”
Virat Kohli scored 692 runs in the Test series-the second highest tally foran Indian batsman overseas/