West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite remains optimistic that his team will benefit from their recent whitewash by England when they face South Africa next month.
England completed a 3-0 series sweep, culminating in a 10-wicket victory in the third Test at Edgbaston on Sunday.
The West Indies have little time to reflect on the lessons from a challenging series, which included an innings and 114-run defeat at Lord’s and a 241-run loss at Trent Bridge. They will begin a two-match Test series at home against the Proteas in Trinidad on August 7.
The issues that plagued the team throughout their tour of England resurfaced at Edgbaston. Despite reducing England to 54-5 in their first innings, the hosts recovered to post a total of 376. Mikyle Louis and Kavem Hodge both made second-innings fifties for the West Indies, but no other batsman managed more than 12 in a total of 175 all out, with fast bowler Mark Wood taking 5-40.
24-ball fifty
Needing just 82 to win, England captain Ben Stokes scored a rapid 24-ball fifty, treating the West Indies pace attack with disdain.
“It was a tough series, for sure,” Brathwaite admitted. “We didn’t show enough discipline with the ball… We let them off the hook too many times and they scored too quickly.”
The 31-year-old opener, with 92 Tests under his belt, also critiqued the West Indies batting line-up, including himself. “Batting-wise, we didn’t get enough second-innings runs in the last two Test matches,” Brathwaite said, after being dismissed for a duck in the second innings at Edgbaston. “Overall, we just didn’t consistently perform with both bat and ball throughout the Tests.”
However, Brathwaite is confident that the quick turnaround to the South Africa series will be beneficial. “That’s good, I like it,” he said. “We have the chance to play two more Test matches against a strong attack. It’s about learning from this experience and moving forward.”
Uunfamiliar with English conditions
England needed only 10 of the scheduled 15 playing days to complete the whitewash. The West Indies, many of whom were unfamiliar with English conditions, had just one warm-up match against a modest County Select XI.
The disparity between cricket’s financially wealthiest and poorest red-ball teams was evident, as three leading West Indies batsmen — Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, and Rovman Powell — were involved in England’s domestic Hundred competition instead of the Test series.
The lone century for the West Indies in the series was Kavem Hodge’s maiden Test hundred (120) at Trent Bridge. “We had several players reaching 50, but if two or three had converted those into hundreds, we would have been in a much better position,” said West Indies coach Andre Coley.
Coley found solace in the performance of Mikyle Louis, who scored 57 in the second innings, marking his maiden Test fifty. “There were instances where we really stood up. It’s about replicating that and showing a level of bravery,” Coley added.
As the West Indies prepare for their upcoming series against South Africa, Brathwaite and his team are focused on applying the lessons learned from their experience in England to improve their performance.
