Caribbean Times 53rd Issue - Thursday 8th December 2016

Thursday 8th December 2016 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g 15
Marsh doubts leave Australia unchanged
AUSTRALIA - Uncertainty
over Shaun Marsh’s badly
broken finger has ensured
that Australia’s revamped Test
squad was retained for the first
Test against Pakistan at the
Gabba.
The selectors had made
sweeping changes after Australia’s
crushing defeat in Hobart,
where South Africa secured
the series, and only six of the
XI from that Test retained their
places for the day-night Test in
Adelaide. Matt Renshaw, Peter
Handscomb and Nic Maddinson
all made their debuts in Adelaide,
where Australia picked
up a consolation victory.
Maddinson, who made 80
in a Sheffield Shield match for
New South Wales this week,
was thought he man most likely
to make way in the event
of Marsh returning to fitness.
However Marsh was not considered
as he continues rehabilitation
after a broken finger
suffered against South Africa
in Perth.
“Shaun has yet to resume
batting and will have a follow-up
x-ray this week that will
be reviewed by a specialist,”
the CA head of sports science
Alex Kountouris said. “This
will determine when he can resume
cricket training.”
It is believed that Marsh’s
finger injury, a re-break suffered
during the first Test after
he initially fractured it in Sri
Lanka, is of a more serious nature
than initially thought.
Australia’s coach Darren
Lehmann conceded that Marsh
would now need to prove his
fitness via the Big Bash League
- either for the Pakistan series
or the tour of India next year,
for which he is considered a
vital component given a sound
batting method against spin.
Lehmann said Marsh would
be able to slot into a middle order
role when fit, despite most
recently playing as an opener
alongside David Warner.
“He did really well in Perth
in the Test match for us opening,
he scored a hundred for us
opening but he’s had success
down the order as well,” Lehmann
said. “He’s one of those
guys who can fit in anywhere in
the top six which is pleasing to
have. It depends on what happens
with other positions.”
The Gabba Test is also a
day-night affair, and given Australia’s
success in Adelaide and
the desire for stability, there
is every chance they will take
an unchanged XI into a Test
cont’d from pg 16
achieved and won the match for West Indies.
The West Indies went on the win the first ever
one-day cricket world cup. Reds observed that
during that tense last wicket partnership, no one
left West Indies players dressing room. Many
players wept openly as victory was snatched
from the certain jaws of defeat, on that fateful
day.
At Adelaide in 1993, the last Australian pair
of Craig Mc. Dermott and Tim May needed two
runs to win, after they had added 40 runs for the
last wicket. Walsh bowled a delivery outside the
leg stump which Mc. Dermott played for what
seemed a certain boundary. Desmond Haynes
dived full length at forward short leg and brilliantly
stopped any runs.
The last ball of the over was a bouncer
which Mc. Dermott gloved into the hands of
wicketkeeper Junior Murray. West Indies won
that match by two runs.
That victory tied the series at one game
each. West Indies then went to Perth where they
demolished the Australians within three days of
the five day test. Ambrose took seven for seventy-six
in that match.
Reds colleague and friend Tony Cozier
(who passed away earlier this year), was fondly
remembered. Reds, on his first tour of duty,
for the first time in more than
a year. The only possible alteration
would be if Adelaide
12th man Chadd Sayers came
into contention, and he did his
chances no harm by taking
eight wickets in the Sheffield
Shield this week.
“We were very pleased with
how the team came together in
Adelaide after some significant
changes following the Tests in
Perth and Hobart,” the interim
selection chairman Trevor
Hohns said.
“This is a young group with
a lot of promise and we believe
all deserve their opportunity
again in this upcoming Test.”
Of Australia’s debutants
from the previous match, Maddinson
in particular will be
keen to prove his Test worth at
the Gabba, having fallen for a
12-ball duck in his only innings
of the Adelaide Test.
Maddinson bounced back
from that disappointment with
80 in the first innings for New
South Wales this week in their
Shield game against South
Australia.
The other Adelaide debutants,
Handscomb and Renshaw,
both enjoyed longer stays
at the crease in their first appearance
for Australia. Handscomb
scored a half-century
in the first innings and then hit
the winning runs in the second,
while Renshaw occupied the
crease for 137 balls in Australia’s
chase to help them secure
victory.
was sent with Cozier by the CBU to broadcast
the series between England and the West Indies
in 1975. They were joined by Jeffrey Charles
of Dominica who then worked for the BBC in
London. The English commentators in that series
were Christopher Martin-Jenkins and John
Arlott. Reds and Cozier went on to broadcast
cricket for the next forty years together travelling
the then known cricketing world.
When asked to what does he attribute his obvious
success Reds replied thusly: ‘I think there
was some guiding hand which led me to the life
and profession I eventually had. There was also
very hard work and effort on my part. At no
time did I allow myself to think I was not good
enough to achieve becoming a cricket commentator.’
It may very well be that that same guiding
spirit led him to Saint Lucia where he headed
the OECS sports desk from 1984 to1996. Reds
now calls Saint Lucia home.
During his many years in Saint Lucia Reds
has been a great asset to sports in general and
cricket in particular. Sports enthusiasts will welcome
this opportunity to wish Reds the best of
health and good luck as he retires from broadcasting
the game he so dearly loves. Reds is due
to broadcast his last cricket match in Guyana
between that country and Barbados from 9 to
12 December, 2016. (Kaieteur News)