Tony Becca
JAMAICA'S PERFORMANCE in the regional Carib Beer series has been the topic of debate over the past week or so with many wondering what went wrong. So wrong, that the team which won both titles last time out, the team with 12 Test players in their squad, finished last after two first innings leads followed by three defeats - one by 282 runs, another by 10 wickets, and the third by 51 runs.
The consensus, it appears, is that the wrong man was the captain, that some of the Test players - those referred to as "untouchables" by some of the non-Test players in the team, did not pull their weight, that there was too much indiscipline in the team, and that the management was generally weak.
While there is some truth in all of that, however, while those things must have contributed to the poor performance of the team, there were three other reasons for it. One was the poor technique of some of the batsmen, one was the arrogance of the batsmen, and one was the use of the bowlers - and particularly so, the use of one of their bowlers.
BALANCED
Looking at batsmen around the world, they stand tall in their stance and appear nicely balanced - so balanced that they can move their feet easily.
Looking at Jamaica's batsmen, however, a number of them bend their knees so much and place their feet so wide apart that they appear uncomfortable. In fact, instead of standing tall, they appear to be sitting, instead of being balanced, they appear unbalanced, that is why their footwork - back and across or even forward and towards the pitch of the ball - is non-existent or late. That is why they keep getting out in the same manner innings after innings, match after match, and that is why, despite a good innings now and then, they are so inconsistent.
As far as their arrogance was concerned, that was evident especially in the match at Chedwin Park where, on a pitch that was difficult for batting, on a pitch on which Guyana batted carefully and cautiously while scoring 213 runs off 90 overs on the first day and 101 off 42 overs on the second day, they went out, attempted to play shots, and lost six wickets for 79 in 46 overs before the end of the day's play.
POOR TECHNIQUE
A match is generally won or lost on the first two days, and apart from their poor technique, Jamaica's batsmen, apparently believing they are better than they really are, probably believing that they are better, much better, than those of Guyana, lost the match on day two because most of them, almost all of them, went out and attempted to reel off some glorious strokes on a pitch that was not conducive to stroke play.
To make matters worse, the use of Gareth Breese was difficult to understand - and especially so in the second innings at Chedwin Park.
In days gone by the best bowlers bowled first, they bowled to the best batsmen on the opposing team, they bowled when things were tight, and they also bowled more overs than part-timers.
Not so, however, at Chedwin Park. In the first innings, Breese, an offspinner selected as the one specialist spin bowler in the team, bowled after part-timer off-spinner Chris Gayle, and although he picked up three wickets, in the second innings, the man who has been Jamaica's most successful bowler in recent years, the man who, with 170 wickets, stands behind only Courtney Walsh, Nehemiah Perry and Robert Haynes on the list of most wickets ever for Jamaica, not only bowled after Gayle but also after Marlon Samuels - another part-time off-spinner, he was twiddling his thumbs while Gayle and Samuels were operating together, and in bowling only 10 overs in which he took two wickets for 10 runs, he bowled only one over more than Gayle and seven less than Samuels.
After winning the double last year with the same squad of players, with the same two captains, with the same coach, the same manager and the same set of selectors, it is difficult to say what really went wrong this year. There is no question about it, however: the batting was appalling, the use of Breese disappointing.
