West Indies' Shannon Gabriel leads Caribbean pace resurgence

Ajit Vijaykumar 19:05 18/06/2018
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  • Many years ago, the West Indies was the land of fast bowlers. Burly quicks terrorised batsmen on fast and flat wickets. Batting was all about survival. Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and Joel Garner fought for the new ball, which meant the bowler who drew the short straw was especially incensed and had a point to prove when he got the older ball in hand.

    After the great Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose retired, the pace machinery dried up. Sure, there were occasional sparks like Fidel Edwards, Tino Best and Jerome Taylor but nothing substantial or sustainable especially in the Test format.

    But over the past few seasons, Shannon Gabriel has galvanised West Indies bowling to form one of the more potent attacks in the world in the longest format.

    The burly Trinidad pacer picked up 8-62 in Sri Lanka’s second innings in the St Lucia Test on Monday, which underlined his status as one of the most effective bowlers in Test cricket at the moment.

    The 30-year-old has raw pace, and loads of it. He has added late movement off the pitch to become a particularly dangerous bowler with the new and old ball. And the results are visible when you look at stats over the last two years.

    In 24 months, Gabriel has snared 66 wickets from 18 Tests which places him in 10th position among fast bowlers currently playing Test cricket. And he is not alone in his efforts.

    The West Indies have provided decent, if not adequate, pace support from the other end with captain Jason Holder and quicks Miguel Cummins and Kemar Roach holding up one end.

    It should therefore not come as a surprise that among teams that have played a similar number of Tests in the last two years as the West Indies – 19 – the record of the Caribbean side is as good. The Windies have taken 324 wickets in 19 Tests, compared to Pakistan’s 349 in 20 Tests and New Zealand’s 238 in 18.

    India are the No1 Test team in the world but the West Indies’ wicket-taking record is arguably better. The Indians have played eight more Tests than the Windies in the same period but have only taken 27 more scalps.

    This West Indies attack isn’t the most menacing going around and not even close to the ones produced by the great archipelago over the years. But under the leadership of Gabriel, they are doing quite well indeed.

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