Kemar Roach's 5-8 At Antigua Test
West Indies have produced tons of legendary pacers. This includes Curtley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Colin Croft, Malcolm Marshall and this list goes on. Current West Indian pace bowling line-up is a miniature of that legendary era. But one bowler who sometimes reminds us of that era of pacers' aggression. And that bowler's name is Kemar Roach. With his most recent spell of 5-1-8-5 against Bangladesh at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium once again reminded of the swing and pace that the West Indian pacers of 70s & 80s used to produce. This is Mashhud Hasan from Frenzytitans360 and today I'm going to talk about Kemar Roach's destructive spell against Bangladesh at the Antigua test.
Kemar Roach is the leading wicket taker of current West Indian bowling line-up. He's positioned 11th in the list of most wicket takers of West Indies in test format. In test Cricket, he has a total of 163 wickets out of 48 matches (85 innings) which includes 8 five wicket hauls. In ODI format, he took 109 wickets out of 72 matches (71 innings) with 3 fifers. He has a hat-trick in 2011's ICC World-cup against Netherlands. Roach is always aggressive, especially on the American turf. Without any doubt that he enjoys bowling against Bangladeshi batsmen. With the red cherry ball, he teared Bangladeshi batting department many times. Roach has played 6 test matches against Bangladesh and took 30 wickets with 3 fifers. His best test bowling figure of 6-48 at St. Georges was also against the same opposition. After 4 years, Bangladesh once again had a tour in West Indies and Roach welcomed them with his destructive bowling with the shiny red ball. It was a stage-show of out swing and pace produced by Kemar Roach and he crumbled Bangladesh and caused 43-run all-out at the 1st innings of 1st test match. Let's dig into it now.
At the Antigua test, West Indies won the toss and elected to field first. At the morning, the weather was pretty much handy for the seamers. Pitch was grassy and very good for producing movements. Bangladesh was coming up with their decent top order, rock solid middle order and bottomed batting depth. Bangladesh was once 10-0. At the beginning of their innings, Tamim Iqbal & Liton Das were blocking the in-swings and leaving the out-swings with patience. But Roach didn't take much time to give the first blow. At the previous delivery, Roach delivered a crafty in-swing which Tamim stumbled while defending. At the next ball, Roach delivered a swift delivery that slightly out-swung and Tamim stuttered to decide whether he should block or leave. Finally the ball scratched the edge of Tamim's bat and fielder at the slip caught the ball. Roach dismissed Mominul Haque with a half volley that contained a lot of pace. Mominul attempted to drive it through the extra cover but it edged over his bat and the fielder at the gully caught it pretty easily. At the 9th over, Roach pulled off one of the most vicious overs in Cricket history by breaking the tenacious middle order of Bangladesh. He started off at the 2nd ball by dismissing Mr.dependable Mushfiqur Rahim with an in-swing that Mushfiqur failed to detect the impact of the ball. Mushfiq went for the DRS but it didn't help him. After Shakib Al Hasan came on to the crease, Roach welcomed the no.1 all-rounder with a lower full-toss. Shakib drove it through the mid-off. Right at the next ball, Roach surprised him with a big out-swing that crossed through the edge of Shakib's bat and the fielder at the slip caught the ball. After that, Mahmudullah came to the crease. He has been the savior of Bangladesh many times and without a doubt he's the best finisher Bangladesh have ever produced. But this time, he failed to carry out the innings. Roach delivered a cross seamed delivery that pitched along the off-stump with a wide angle from the right and swung slightly. Mahmudullah wanted to block it but knocked out by the pace of that vicious delivery. Bangladesh turned into 18-5 which ended up as a 43 all-out. Miguel Cummins and Jason Holder have truncated the rest of the line-up but it was Kemar Roach who broke the backbone of Bangladesh's batting line-up.
Currently Bangladesh is leading the ODI series of this tour and today they're ahead of the series deciding ODI match. But Roach's terrifying bowling spell is unforgettable and it will be remembered whenever the discussion of this tour will come up. This bowling figure reminds me of Jermaine Lawson's 6 wickets out of 3 runs against Bangladesh at 2002. Roach is a scary pacer. He can produce big amount of pace and swing. But injury is his biggest enemy. It doesn't let him generate the power that he's capable of generating. The reason of his capability of producing deadly bouncers and crafty swings are because of his long run-up, front-on bowling action and fast twitch of his trunk. We're hoping for his speedy recovery from the injury that costed him many. If Kemar Roach can stay fit with longevity, then we're gonna be able to see his frightening bowling for a long time.
 |
| Roach during the Antigua test against Bangladesh |
Kemar Roach is the leading wicket taker of current West Indian bowling line-up. He's positioned 11th in the list of most wicket takers of West Indies in test format. In test Cricket, he has a total of 163 wickets out of 48 matches (85 innings) which includes 8 five wicket hauls. In ODI format, he took 109 wickets out of 72 matches (71 innings) with 3 fifers. He has a hat-trick in 2011's ICC World-cup against Netherlands. Roach is always aggressive, especially on the American turf. Without any doubt that he enjoys bowling against Bangladeshi batsmen. With the red cherry ball, he teared Bangladeshi batting department many times. Roach has played 6 test matches against Bangladesh and took 30 wickets with 3 fifers. His best test bowling figure of 6-48 at St. Georges was also against the same opposition. After 4 years, Bangladesh once again had a tour in West Indies and Roach welcomed them with his destructive bowling with the shiny red ball. It was a stage-show of out swing and pace produced by Kemar Roach and he crumbled Bangladesh and caused 43-run all-out at the 1st innings of 1st test match. Let's dig into it now.
At the Antigua test, West Indies won the toss and elected to field first. At the morning, the weather was pretty much handy for the seamers. Pitch was grassy and very good for producing movements. Bangladesh was coming up with their decent top order, rock solid middle order and bottomed batting depth. Bangladesh was once 10-0. At the beginning of their innings, Tamim Iqbal & Liton Das were blocking the in-swings and leaving the out-swings with patience. But Roach didn't take much time to give the first blow. At the previous delivery, Roach delivered a crafty in-swing which Tamim stumbled while defending. At the next ball, Roach delivered a swift delivery that slightly out-swung and Tamim stuttered to decide whether he should block or leave. Finally the ball scratched the edge of Tamim's bat and fielder at the slip caught the ball. Roach dismissed Mominul Haque with a half volley that contained a lot of pace. Mominul attempted to drive it through the extra cover but it edged over his bat and the fielder at the gully caught it pretty easily. At the 9th over, Roach pulled off one of the most vicious overs in Cricket history by breaking the tenacious middle order of Bangladesh. He started off at the 2nd ball by dismissing Mr.dependable Mushfiqur Rahim with an in-swing that Mushfiqur failed to detect the impact of the ball. Mushfiq went for the DRS but it didn't help him. After Shakib Al Hasan came on to the crease, Roach welcomed the no.1 all-rounder with a lower full-toss. Shakib drove it through the mid-off. Right at the next ball, Roach surprised him with a big out-swing that crossed through the edge of Shakib's bat and the fielder at the slip caught the ball. After that, Mahmudullah came to the crease. He has been the savior of Bangladesh many times and without a doubt he's the best finisher Bangladesh have ever produced. But this time, he failed to carry out the innings. Roach delivered a cross seamed delivery that pitched along the off-stump with a wide angle from the right and swung slightly. Mahmudullah wanted to block it but knocked out by the pace of that vicious delivery. Bangladesh turned into 18-5 which ended up as a 43 all-out. Miguel Cummins and Jason Holder have truncated the rest of the line-up but it was Kemar Roach who broke the backbone of Bangladesh's batting line-up.
 |
| Roach's destruction over Bangladesh at WC2011 |
Currently Bangladesh is leading the ODI series of this tour and today they're ahead of the series deciding ODI match. But Roach's terrifying bowling spell is unforgettable and it will be remembered whenever the discussion of this tour will come up. This bowling figure reminds me of Jermaine Lawson's 6 wickets out of 3 runs against Bangladesh at 2002. Roach is a scary pacer. He can produce big amount of pace and swing. But injury is his biggest enemy. It doesn't let him generate the power that he's capable of generating. The reason of his capability of producing deadly bouncers and crafty swings are because of his long run-up, front-on bowling action and fast twitch of his trunk. We're hoping for his speedy recovery from the injury that costed him many. If Kemar Roach can stay fit with longevity, then we're gonna be able to see his frightening bowling for a long time.
No comments