LONDON, England – West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite has called on his team to draw on their past experiences and resilience following a heavy defeat against England in the first Test of the Richards-Botham Trophy Series at Lord’s.
The Caribbean team suffered a crushing innings-and-114-run loss after England’s Gus Atkinson delivered a remarkable performance, taking 12 wickets in the match and giving the hosts a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series.
The West Indies’ batting performance was significantly lacking, with the team being dismissed for low scores in both innings. After losing the toss, the Windies managed only 121 runs in their first innings. England capitalized on this, posting 371 in response. The visitors fared no better in their second innings, being bowled out for 136 just before lunch on the third day.
Still two Tests remaining
“For me to the boys [the message] is generally: things will not always go as planned,” Brathwaite told reporters after the match. “Also, we came to win the Test, and it didn’t happen. But [there are] still two Tests remaining in this series, and we still have six Tests remaining for the year, so it’s all a build-up.”
Brathwaite stressed the importance of resilience and self-belief moving forward. “We can’t believe that because of this [England] win, we are out of it or anything. We’ve got to dig deep, we got to keep believing and keep stressing on it. It’s easy to give up. It’s easy to say, ‘well, I can’t get it done,’ but we got to keep believing and keep supporting one another.”
None of the West Indies batsmen managed to score a half-century, and their overall performance was marred by carelessness and poor shot selection. They failed to bat for 50 overs in either innings, which Brathwaite acknowledged was a significant disappointment. “We disappointed ourselves with the bat,” he admitted. “Just over 100 runs batting first, you’re behind the game. With the bat, we didn’t come to the party at all in this game, and with the ball, we still could be better. But it’s a positive that we bowled them out.”
We know where we went wrong
He continued, “It has to be an all-round performance. The batters, including myself, have to come to the party and make West Indians proud. Batting first, you want to put runs on the board in the first innings especially. We know where we went wrong. We know where we can be better. My thing for the group is to stay mentally tough. It’s Test cricket. You go through successful periods, you go through tough periods, but you just got to be strong and believe in your ability. You got to believe that something is around the corner. Just keep doing the right things. And everything will work out.”
Despite the loss, Brathwaite pointed out some positives, notably the team’s ability to bowl England out. “We got 10 wickets,” he noted. “We did bowl them out albeit [for] 50 to 60 runs too many. With the bat, we got three guys that got 20-odd, they batted for close to an hour, if not an hour. We caught decently as well.”
Recalling their earlier series in Australia, Brathwaite emphasized that bouncing back from a tough start is not new to the team. “We’ve all had some bad memories, we’ve all had glimpses of doing great stuff on this level,” he said. “That’s what I call experience. That’s where experience comes in. Jason Holder has been great sharing his and I will continue to do it. As I said, we just got to dig deep down. Stay mentally tough.”
The West Indies will need to regroup quickly as they prepare for the second Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, starting on Thursday.
