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When the West Indies take on England in the second Test at Trent Bridge, their batsmen will try to find the ideal mix between attack and defence. Kraigg Brathwaite, the captain, has stated that the team needs “to find a way” to score runs.
At Lord’s, the tourists lost by an innings after being bowled out for totals of 121 and 136. Mikyle Louis, the opening batsman, scored 27 runs in the first innings, and no one else in the top seven could match that total. Though there had been talks about what a youthful batting lineup, four of whom had played fewer than five Test matches before the series began, should do differently, like attack England’s bowlers, Brathwaite said.
“It’s pretty simple what we’ve got to do,” he said. “We’ve got to bat a lot better. Obviously we’ve got to find a way, which we’ve had some discussions around different things we can do better as a team. There are still a bit of positives with the bat. With the ball, as I said before, [England scored] 50-60 runs too many but it was a positive to get ten wickets. But with the bat, we’ve just got to put runs on the board. It’s simple.
“A few guys did get in and didn’t go on. It’s just important that you go on for longer, because the longer you bat, the easier it becomes and it’s important to stay in that plan for as long as possible. Obviously you want to put away bad balls, that’s what everybody wants to do. But it’s that hard work that you do for 40 minutes, being able to take that to an hour, two hours. And it is a balance, a mixture of putting away the bad balls, because when you put away the bad balls it gives them confidence. We just got to keep learning. You know, I think a lot of learning would have taken place in the first Test and you’ve just got to believe in our ability and do it and aim to do it for longer periods.”
Brathwaite has ninety Tests of experience under his belt, compared to many of his players who are still learning on the job. He is also unfazed by his own poor form with the bat, having only scored one half-century in his last eight Tests dating back to February 2023, at an average of 15.13.
“I know what I have to do and it’s obviously important to lead this team and lead the batting, just to build this foundation is obviously what I’m focusing on and obviously that always puts us in a better position to score big runs,” he said. “I enjoy captaining, I enjoy leading. I’ve been opening my whole life, so when I go there to bat, for me, it’s always to see off that new ball, and be there as long as [I] can. That’s always my focus, so I don’t see it as any added pressure. Yes, you know, at times you don’t get runs and it could be a little bit tough but it’s just important to stay mentally tough and keep believing.”