West Indies skipepr Kraigg Brathwaite has batted for improvement in standard of pitches in the Caribbean after the team's recent loss to India in the Test series. The visitors won the two-match series by 1-0 after rain led to a drawn second Test in Port of Spain. India had won the first Test in Dominica by an innings and 141 runs and also dominated the second Test until rain had the final say.
Opening up on the pitches for the Test series, Brathwaite felt that better pitches will only help their batters' confidence. "Once we produce great cricketing pitches in the Caribbean, it will help our batsmen. Every guy does not have a lot of patience. I think improving the pitches, in general, will help both batsmen and bowlers. So, I do think it's important," Brathwaite said while speaking after the end of Test series.
He was also critical of the bowling attack that wasn't up to the mark during the Test series and reckoned that consistency will be key for them in future. The troika of Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel weren't incisive together while Jason Holder also didn't impress much. "As a bowling unit, there are a certain areas (we can improve). We need to cut our run rates. At times, we get hit on both sides. So, we need to be more disciplined with the ball, controlling the run rate of the batsman at times.
"Otherwise, we showed some fight here, but we also need to be consistent. And the key to consistency is always discipline. It's the key for us to believe it, even more as a group, so that we can be more consistent. We were looking to fight until Day 5. We had 288 runs to win. It was possible. Obviously, can't do much about the weather," Brathwaite added.
West Indies' next Test series is against Australia away from home in January next year and Kraigg Brathwaite admitted that the challenge down under will be huge. However, he was also optimistic of the team putting up a better show. "I think we have a bright future. The key is to work more on our strengths and weaknesses. I know we are up against Australia. We know their bowlers, so we as batsmen got to work out along with our coaches and how to score runs against them.
"But the challenge is going to be starting with the new ball and the swing. The pitches (in Australia) are good for batting, with a good bounce, which is way different from what we have in the Caribbean. We will have discussions with the management in a couple of weeks' time and prepare accordingly," the Windies skipper added.
