Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope of the Windies. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
West Indies were on the verge of pulling off a sensational win over South Africa in Trinidad but there wasn’t enough time for them to get the job done. South Africa declared early on the final day, with the hope to pick 10 quick wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the series. However, the hosts batted brilliantly, particularly, Alick Athanaze, which opened the door for West Indies to pick up a win, but they eventually had to settle for a draw.
South Africa were 173/3 when they declared their innings on Day 5. It was a mountain to climb for West Indies, given how their batting unit fared in the first innings but the players were confident of pulling it off as they didn’t want to settle for a draw. They lost a couple of early wickets, which gave South Africa some confidence but Kacey Carty and Athanaze pulled things back for the Kraigg Brathwaite-led side. Athanaze made 92 runs while Jason Holder made 31* runs as West Indies were 201/5 when the umpires called it a day.
After the game, Brathwaite stated that the players knew it wouldn’t be an easy task but they were committed to picking up a win. He mentioned that they had a plan and things were working accordingly, especially when Athanaze was batting in the middle.
“Happy with the intent we had as a batting group. The guys were quite positive. We believed we could get the runs. We knew it wouldn’t be easy. We had a game plan and fully backed it. Liked how Alick (Athanaze) went about it. Keacy as well, fully committed to his plans. We were up for the challenge today,” Brathwaite said in the post-match presentation.
“There are times when you need to accelerate and times when you need to build a foundation. It’s all about belief and planning. It’s about believing in the plans. Alick (Athanaze) showed us how to do it and Hodge did it in England. Must commend how he went about his planning and he stuck to it,” he added.
The second Test of the series will begin on August 15 and will be played at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. Keeping workload management in mind, Brathwaite indicated that there might be changes to the XI playing in the second test.