By Paras Ramoutar, IANS
Port of Spain : West Indies cricketers have been given a mandate “to wield big scores in South Africa” especially since there is no Brian Lara around.
Former Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies all-rounder Rangy Nanan thinks that the key to Caribbean competitiveness in South Africa will be their batting.
“As far as I see it, the only way we can be competitive is to get huge scores when we bat, to give bowlers a good cushion to work with. There is no Lara around but we have guys capable of getting big scores and they must stand up and be counted,” he said.
“If you make 130 to 200 runs in the first innings of a Test match, you are on the back foot and more than likely to get whipped within three days. We need to get out there, concentrate on building an innings and put a price on our wickets,” Nanan said.
“Looking at the recent series between New Zealand and South Africa, the New Zealanders, which are a far better team than ours, made very low scores and this resulted in them not even being competitive.
“South Africa’s batting is awesome. Just take a look at Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla and you would know the battle you are about to have. Then you have skipper Greame Smith who loves to make runs against West Indies,” Nanan argued.
He hoped Trinidad and Tobago batsman Daren Ganga and off spinner Amit Jaggernauth were selected for the series.