Dear Editor,
It is not rational to talk about the South Africa tour without taking into consideration the injury to the best bowler, Roach, in the first Test, and of course, the absence of Gayle, Darren Bravo and another senior player like Dwayne Bravo with whom the captain could have shared leadership challenges.
That said, what happened on the fourth day of the last Test when the partnership between Samuels and Chanderpaul looked very promising, is the focus of this letter. Samuel`s mental error, which was his second demonstration of a lack of emotional intelligence in the Test match (the first being another loose shot in the first innings that cost him his wicket at 43) was clearly the beginning of the race to defeat. It led myself, but more importantly, the batting coach and captain to use strong language in describing his dismissal. I believe, however, that while understandable, our reaction was not warranted when all the facts are taken into consideration. At that point in time Samuels, who had come in the night before after the fall of Brathwaite and Smith had batted with grit, determination and skill in preserving his wicket, and importantly in scoring runs in the face of some really accurate and intimidating bowling from Philander, Morkel and Steyn. When he got out, he had scored 74 very valuable runs, many of them coming from his strategy of going particularly hard on the one Spinner, Harmer. That he got out in pursuing Harmer in a less than prudent manner, is not praiseworthy, but not entirely indefensible. If he had hit the ball 6 feet further the result would have been 6 more runs rather than the loss of his wicket.
The gravamen of his offence is that at that time he was the one batsman most likely to make a good score. We ought not to forget, though, that those to follow were the captain, who had a half century in the first innings; Blackwood, who also had a half century in the first innings; Holder, who has shown that he has batting skills, and was just appointed captain of the ODI squad; Taylor, who has a Test century; and Benn, who most people acknowledge is not a rabbit.
Frankly therefore it is what happened after Samuels left that was really less predictable and more shocking than Samuel`s departure. All five batsmen played poorly, Taylor being the worst; and it was their horrible performances, to which must be added Chanderpaul’s horrible decision to try for a single on Steyn’s fifth ball that deserve even more criticism than the poor judgment of the player who had contributed most to putting the team in a potentially winning or drawing position. It is important that we put things in their proper perspective going forward.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
