00:00The West Indies were trounced by Bangladesh by 101 runs in the final test at Sabina Park
00:06with a day to spare.
00:08In so doing, the Tigers leveled the series 1-1, with a win being their first in the Caribbean
00:13in 15 years.
00:15Cricket analyst Fazil Mohammed is far from pleased with the home team's display, saying
00:19that the batting is something to worry about.
00:22Disappointing but not surprising because when you look at it again, just this year, 2024,
00:29and the test matches played by the West Indies, some nine test matches, the issue of consistent
00:34batting remains a concern.
00:36The West Indies got over 450 in the first innings of this series.
00:40But after that, look at the scores, 152, 146, 185.
00:45Those are substandard.
00:46So again, look at the individual contributors in the top order.
00:51Someone will get a big score and get nothing else after that.
00:54You have one significant contribution and minuscule for the next three.
00:59And with that sort of performance, you are going to expect these sorts of results.
01:04He says there were some who got carried away after the West Indies won the opening test
01:07in Antigua by 201 runs.
01:10The loss meant that the West Indies failed to win a single test series in the ongoing
01:14WTC cycle, with 1-1 draws against Australia and Bangladesh being their best results.
01:20It's disappointing, but credit to Bangladesh, because they fought back from losing by 201 runs.
01:26They gave their young fast bowler an opportunity after arresting him in the first test.
01:30West Indies media and so on made a big song and dance about the four fast bowlers and
01:35recalling the glory days.
01:37Well, this should be a measure of reality, that we are a long way from that.
01:43And therefore, Bangladesh can almost fight fire with fire, as they did at Sabina Park,
01:47and exposed once again the weaknesses, the inherent weaknesses in our batting.
01:53The result also put the Caribbean side at the bottom of the World Test Championship
01:57table with Bangladesh one above in eighth position.
02:01The men in maroon played 11 test matches with two wins, seven losses and two draws.
02:07So the question is, how does it reflect on West Indies cricket?
02:11Does that really resonate with the people who have the authority to make a difference?
02:17We've been hearing a lot of things.
02:20We had the Grand Papi Show last April in Trinidad with the so-called West Indies Cricket Conference,
02:26which pops up every five years or so to make it appear that something is being done.
02:31We now know that some players are off to Chennai, some players are in Tasmania, hopefully to
02:37get them better attuned to what is required.
02:40But let's be real about it.
02:42Unless we get our situation sorted out right here in the Caribbean, as far as the first
02:48class game, we are going to have to become comfortable with being at or near the bottom
02:53of the standings.
02:54The next test series for the West Indies is in Pakistan, where they play two games in
02:58January in Karachi and Multan.
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