By Neto Baptiste
Iconic former West Indies fast bowler Sir Andy Roberts is calling on the current crop to be more creative and strategic in how they go about their business.
His plea to the bowlers comes as he commends the batmen for what he says is their ability to think on their feet in some situations. The bowlers, he said, don’t seem to have the ability to outsmart the opposing team’s batters.
“The batting, you can see they try something but the bowling, in my mind, hasn’t improved one bit. I don’t think we are learning how to contain people first. The batting has come up with all different types of improvisation, but have you seen the bowling come up with anything whatsoever to combat the rules and to combat the batting? Nobody is trying anything different,” he said.
Sir Andy, who claimed 202 wickets in 47 Tests and another 87 in 56 ODIs, also urged young batsmen to acquire the foundation they need by playing more four day cricket as it could improve their cricketing IQ.
“If they are not prepared to play the longer version of the game — which allows you to be able to bat properly and bat under any condition — because if you just come up on T20 you’re just trying to hit the ball out the ground. Not every ball is made to be hit out of the ground, so they must learn how to maneuver the ball like the rest of the world is doing,” he said.
The Windies won the third and final T20 International against New Zealand by eight wickets in Jamaica on Sunday, but surrendered the series after losing the first two matches by 13 and 90 runs respectively. The first ODI in the three-match series is set to bowl off at 2pm on Wednesday in Barbados.