Johannesburg: Captain Denesh Ramdin has warned detractors not to write the West Indies off just yet following their innings defeat in the first Test against South Africa.
The tourists were humiliated by an innings and 220 runs on the fourth morning of the opening Test at Centurion Saturday, to leave them 1-0 down in the three-Test series.
The West Indies now head into the second Test starting Boxing Day in Port Elizabeth — a venue where they pulled off their only success on their last tour of South Africa seven years ago, when they won by 128 runs.
Ramdin is taking hope from that performance.
“Our last memory there is when we won a Test match and, from this game, we would like to take some of the positives when we go down there,” he told reporters.
“We should be having that little bit of confidence from the last time we won but, having said that, cricket plays on the day and everyone needs to come up with their ‘A’ game.
“We’re 1-0 down in the series and it is tough to beat this South African team, which is the number one team [in the world], but I think we have some fight in us and we can give them a good fight down in Port Elizabeth.”
The West Indies put in a poor showing all-round at Centurion. They reduced the hosts to 57 for three after winning the toss and bowling in good conditions, but allowed captain Hashim Amla (208) and AB de Villiers (152) to add a record 308 runs for the fourth wicket and propel South Africa to 552 for five declared in their first innings.
In reply, the Windies were dismissed for 201 in their first innings and, following on, were bundled out for 131 to suffer their heaviest defeat in South Africa.
“The first hour on the first day of the Test match was good, getting three wickets for a little bit of runs [but] we didn’t assess it well going forward. Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers came together and had a brilliant partnership and we didn’t bowl in the areas we wanted to which would have created more opportunities,” Ramdin said.
“Having Kemar Roach out was a blow for us and we had to make up with the other guys,” he added, referring to Roach’s ankle injury in the final session of the opening day that ruled him out of the series.
