SPORTS
Come on Beckles

FORMER Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies fast bowler Tony Gray hailed the effort of opening batsman Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who was a bright spark in what was a disappointing tour of Australia for the West Indies. The regional team lost the two-match Test series 2-0 on Sunday.
Australia won the first Test in Perth by 164 runs and the second by 419 runs at the Adelaide Oval.
Chanderpaul, son of West Indies legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul, made his debut in the first Test match.
The left-hander was up for the occasion scoring 51 in his first innings.
In the second innings, he continued to demonstrate his skills with 45.
In the second Test, Chanderpaul scored 47 and 17 to end the series with 160 runs at an average of 40.
Chanderpaul played with confidence on several occasions finishing with a strike rate of 47.76 in the series. Only captain Kraigg Brathwaite scored more runs for West Indies in the series as the right-hander made 196 runs at an average of 49.
Before the Test series, Chanderpaul scored 119 and 56 in a practice match against the Prime Minister’s XI.
“First of all, Chanderpaul was very impressive…he scored 50 in his first Test innings in Australia on a fast, fast track in Perth,” Gray said.
Gray said hitting a century and a half in the warm-up match was also a commendable effort.
“This is an absolutely brilliant tournament for him because obviously it’s his first tournament, he’s playing Australia (who are) probably the best balanced team in the game of cricket in the world … they have probably the most attacking best bowling all-rounder in world cricket. at the moment because you have three quicks (Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood) who can be legends at the end of their careers.”
Gray said Australia also has the all-rounder Cameron Green and the best player in the world in Nathan Lyon.
“This is a formidable bowling attack on pitches that suit their type of bowling, which is aggressive, direct bowling. Chanderpaul has done a wonderful job, fantastic job… he has come from slow and low wickets (in the Caribbean and) he has been able to make that mental and technical transition very quickly against a powerful bowling attack.”
Gray said Brathwaite showed a patient temperament but was pleased he was more attacking.
Most of the West Indies batsmen struggled during the tournament. Gray said their flaws were exposed by Australia.
“The other batsmen clearly (have) technical problems. If you have technical problems, you won’t have confidence especially against players like Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood and then you have Cameron (Green) … and then you have the likes of Nathan Lyon.
“The West Indies batsmen, first of all, need to improve their spin technique against faster bowlers. Chanderpaul showed us that kind of batting technique like (Brian) Lara… he (Chanderpaul) had extreme movement to be able to pull the ball, he can hook the ball, he can bowl over point and the rest of the batsmen don’t move their back foot enough.”
Some of the commentators during the series did not hold back in their comments about the performance of the West Indies team.
Former Australian batsman Mark Waugh criticized the efforts of the West Indies bowlers and the efforts of the fielders.
“I don’t think there’s any kind of reason behind what they’re doing right now. They’re just hoping for a mistake somewhere,” Waugh said during the first Test.
“Just change it. At the moment it is very easy. Not sure how they can get him out bowling… it’s not Test match cricket. This is not Test match quality.”
Gray was not surprised by the comments, saying Australian commentators are “honest”.