‘I don’t think we executed well enough’ – Holder

Following his unbeaten 51 in the second innings of the Antigua Test against India, Carlos Brathwaite’s Test record looked like this: five innings, three half-centuries, a batting average of 45.25. Any specialist batsman would be proud of numbers like that, but Brathwaite isn’t a specialist batsman. He has batted no higher than No. 8 so far, and his primary role in West Indies’ team is to bowl seam.

At the end of the Antigua Test, Brathwaite had taken only one wicket in his three Tests, at an average of 242.00.

Jason Holder, West Indies’ captain, has played 14 Tests. He has scored one hundred, three fifties, and averages 27.18 with the bat – perfectly good returns for a lower-order batsman, but, like Brathwaite, his primary job is bowling. At the end of the Antigua Test, he had taken 21 wickets at an average of 42.95 and a strike rate of 93.9.

In Antigua, Holder and Brathwaite weren’t third and fourth seamers. They were, respectively, new-ball bowler and first-change. Between them, they finished with figures of 0 for 163 in 49 overs in India’s only innings.

Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar, ESPNcricinfo’s expert analyst on the tour, had suggested on Saturday that West Indies were misusing the talents of Holder and Brathwaite. Taking the example of Ravi Shastri, who began his career primarily as a left-arm spinner but ended up as more of a top-order batsman than a bowler, Manjrekar suggested that West Indies push both up the order and pick an extra fast bowler to strengthen their bowling.

Speaking to the media after West Indies’ innings-and-92-run loss inside four days, Holder defended West Indies’ selection, and said it was the execution of the bowling attack’s plans that had gone wrong, and not its composition.

“In hindsight you can say a lot of things,” Holder said. “The combination we played had four bowlers and an allrounder in Roston Chase, who bowls some offspin. But execution is the name of the game. I don’t think we executed well enough.”

Holder’s answer did not stop further questions …

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