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  • 2 days ago

Even though cricket analyst Fazeer Mohammed has praised the West Indies for drawing the opening Test against hosts New Zealand, he is not going too carried away by it.

He knows it's a big achievement, but one which happens once in a very long while.

Instead, he's urging the West Indies to show more consistency moving forward.
Transcript
00:00Many lauded the West Indies for being able to grind it out against New Zealand, which
00:04saw the men in maroon drawing the opening test in Christchurch.
00:07Set 531 to win, the Windies began on 212-4 on the last day, but closed on 457-6, with
00:16Justin Graves getting 202 not out, and Taylor under Kimar Roach an unbeaten 58, while not
00:21forgetting Shehoff's 140.
00:24Among those praising the Caribbean team was cricket analyst Fazir Mohamed.
00:28Butting the better part of two days, even with all of the caveats associated with New
00:35Zealand, the absence of two of their frontline bowlers, catches dropped, run out, opportunity
00:40missed, wasting their referrals to the technology, and indeed umpiring errors towards the end,
00:49which also proved costly.
00:50Even if you factor all of those things into the discussion, the West Indies batting as
00:56they did to get the largest total in a fourth innings in a five day test match is truly
01:02a remarkable effort.
01:03Mohamed acknowledges that the players have the potential to shine, but doesn't expect
01:08such a thing to happen all the time.
01:10As such, he does not want to get carried away, but instead enjoy the moment since Caribbean
01:16fans know what heartbreak means over the years.
01:18At the start of the year, the West Indies had a famous series levelling victory in Pakistan,
01:24but thereafter lost the next five consecutive test matches, including that infamous 27 All
01:30Out against Australia at Sabina Park.
01:33Last year, the West Indies started the year with an historic victory, day-night match at
01:38the Gabba over Australia with Shamar Joseph, starring with that seven-wicket hole.
01:43But then, they went on to England and were thrashed in three test matches and were pretty indifferent
01:49for the rest of the year.
01:51Mohamed says it's left to be seen what the hosts have to offer in terms of the bowling since
01:56two players were injured.
01:57Whatever the case, the cricket analyst says the key for the Windies is to be consistent,
02:03since New Zealand is like a fortress for the Black Caps.
02:07Winning a test series in New Zealand has always been difficult for the West Indies, even at
02:12their strongest, even with their most powerful teams, they found it difficult to prevail in
02:17New Zealand.
02:18So, it's going to be tough for the remaining test matches to come in this series and that's
02:22why achieving something like the consistency expected of test quality batting is so very
02:29important.
02:30That's why the performance of Kim R. Roach was such an inspiration.
02:34The second test in Wellington starts Tuesday at 6pm TNT time.
02:39Now, why are these teams export?
02:44This is a marathon effort by number 6.
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