Chase: Warrican won us the series

SYLHET, Bangladesh (CMC):

West Indies Test captain Roston Chase has credited his deputy, Jomel Warrican, as one of the main reasons behind his side’s success in the recently concluded two-match Test series against Bangladesh.

The West Indies won the series 1-0 after the second Test at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium ended in a tame draw yesterday.

Left-arm spinner Warrican was named Player of the Series after finishing with 16 wickets, the most by any player across the two matches.

He snared nine wickets and took home the Player of the Match award in the opening Test in Dhaka, which the West Indies won by eight wickets, before returning to claim seven wickets in the second Test.

Speaking in a post-match interview, Chase said Warrican’s variations proved too much for the home side’s batters.

“I thought Warrican bowled well in both games. He controlled his economy rate very well, and I thought that he built a lot of pressure and put the balls in front of the batsmen for a long period of time. So I thought that was the hallmark of his bowling throughout the series, along with straightening and spinning as well.

“I thought that he really kept us in this series and really won the series for us,” Chase said.

Reflecting on the series victory, Chase said that while the West Indies would have preferred to win both matches, he was pleased with the team’s overall performance.

With the result, the regional side moved up to sixth in the ICC Test rankings, achieving a target they had set at the start of the World Test Championship cycle.

“I’m very happy, obviously. Coming to Bangladesh is always a tough place to come and play cricket, so to beat them in their own backyard is always a pleasure.

“We wanted to win both games, but it didn’t happen. This game was a bit slower than the first one, especially with all the bad light taking time out of the game; but we still played well, and kudos to the guys for winning the series,” Chase said.

The West Indies captain said the team had targeted strong results against comparable opposition during the second year of the World Test Championship cycle.

“We had a tough year in the first year of the cycle and we sat down and we spoke about coming to dominate the second year in the cycle playing against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and also Bangladesh. We thought these were teams that were obviously closer to our skill level and closer to us in the rankings, so we wanted to challenge ourselves in terms of winning all three series.

“We won two out of three, so I thought that it was a good year, and also, we went unbeaten in any series, which is something that hasn’t been done for a number of years. So, it just goes to show that when you sit down and plan and put in the hard work, anything is achievable, so I think we’re going in the right direction as a unit,” the skipper added.