West Indies Captain Kraigg Brathwaite Reflects on Loss to South Africa in Second Test
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite admitted that his team ‘fell short’ with the bat and should have put more runs on the board in the first innings against South Africa in the second Test at Providence Stadium, Guyana.
After the first Test ended in a draw, South Africa capitalized on their opportunities to edge out the West Indies. Despite reducing South Africa to 97/9 in the first innings, a strong 63-run partnership between Dane Piedt and Nandre Burger helped the visitors post 160 runs. In response, West Indies managed only 144, conceding a 16-run lead.
Brathwaite said, “Yeah, if you look at it, obviously it was quite big. But bowling them out for 160, I was happy. That partnership for them was good. You know, it’s cricket where partnerships do happen. So, I won’t really stress on that too much. But what I would say is our first innings total needed to be bigger. We needed to get a lead from it. I think that was very important. You can never complain about the bowlers’ effort to bowl them out for 160, but yeah, the batting effort in the first innings just wasn’t big enough. We had to fight back into the game. And, in the end, we fell short.”
Despite the loss, there were positives for the West Indies. Shamar Joseph, who missed the first Test, returned to trouble South Africa’s batting line-up. Pacer Jayden Seales became the highest wicket-taker for West Indies in the series, taking 12 wickets, including 6/61 in the second innings of the second Test.
Brathwaite added, “I think bowling-wise, you look at Shamar coming back in, not playing the first Test, and coming in bowling out South Africa on the first day. Jayden, throughout the series, continued to keep coming despite the hot conditions. That was a positive. You see the two spinners, one of the first time two spinners played together in the Caribbean, and they did well, in particular in this game where both of them were under three runs an over. That’s one thing we asked for, and that was great to see.”
South Africa went on to put 246 runs on the board, and the West Indies fell short, losing the second Test by 40 runs.
Doubts Revealed
West Indies -: West Indies is a group of Caribbean islands that play cricket together as one team. They are known for their strong cricket history.
Kraigg Brathwaite -: Kraigg Brathwaite is a cricketer from the West Indies. He is the captain of the West Indies cricket team.
South Africa -: South Africa is a country at the southern tip of Africa. They also have a national cricket team that competes internationally.
Second Test -: A Test match is a long cricket game that can last up to five days. The ‘Second Test’ means it is the second game in a series of matches between two teams.
Providence Stadium -: Providence Stadium is a cricket stadium in Guyana, a country in South America. It is where the match took place.
97/9 -: In cricket, 97/9 means the team has scored 97 runs and lost 9 wickets. A wicket is when a player gets out.
160 -: 160 is the total number of runs South Africa scored in their first innings after losing 9 wickets.
144 -: 144 is the total number of runs the West Indies team scored in their first innings.
16-run lead -: A 16-run lead means South Africa scored 16 more runs than the West Indies in the first innings.
246 -: 246 is the target score set by South Africa for the West Indies to win the match.
40 runs -: West Indies fell short by 40 runs means they scored 40 runs less than the target set by South Africa.
Shamar Joseph -: Shamar Joseph is a bowler in the West Indies cricket team. A bowler is a player who throws the ball to the batsman.
Jayden Seales -: Jayden Seales is another bowler in the West Indies cricket team. He also helped in getting the South African players out.
