Pitch pivotal

CMC – The spotlight is on the Queen’s Park Oval pitch for the second Test against India, in the wake of the turner at Windsor Park in last week’s first Test, which resulted in a heavy innings defeat for West Indies.

Choosing to bat first, the Caribbean side were bundled out for 150 on the first day with veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claiming a five-wicket haul.

After conceding a first-innings deficit of 271 runs, West Indies were turned over for 130 in their second innings on day three, Ashwin snatching seven wickets to end the game with a 12-wicket haul.

“I think based on how it started I don’t think either team knew how it (pitch) would’ve played,” West Indies coach Andre Coley said in reference to the Windsor Park surface.
“Obviously as the game progressed, it unfolded and became a spinning track which as you imagine, India would be a lot more comfortable with. 
“We’re going to assess this one that we’re playing on [at Queen’s Park Oval] and then come up with the plans for the second Test.”

While India’s spinners enjoyed success, the home side’s spin duo of off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall and left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican scraped only two wickets between them.

And in an attempt to bolster their spin options, the Desmond Haynes-led selectors called up uncapped off-spinner Kevin Sinclair for the second Test.

The last Test at Queen’s Park Oval five years ago saw West Indies pacers take 11 of the 20 wickets to fall, with spinners accounting for eight – seven of which came in the second innings as the home side beat Sri Lanka by 226 runs.

And Coley said it was clear that fast bowling remained West Indies’ strength.

“When you look at our bowling attack in terms of our fast bowling, the majority of wickets have been taken by our quicks so from that standpoint, we have a lot of experience in that department,” he explained.
“We will assess conditions and we will then make a decision [on the bowling line-up].
“[Sinclair playing] is down to the combination on the day and for the match. So once we know what the conditions look like, we will make a determination on what the final XI is going to be.”

In spite of the first Test result, Coley said there were batting positives which needed to be taken into the upcoming game starting Thursday.

“There were different stages when we did things well,” he noted.
“From a batting standpoint, obviously we had that good opening partnership that took care of the first hour [on the first day], and then there was a partnership of about 40-odd in the middle where we actually played quite well, defended well and capitalised on loose deliveries.

“That’s the mentality we have to have as a batting unit – summing up the conditions, working out where our scoring options are going to be, and being confident enough to keep out good deliveries.”

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