Spin magician Warrican on cloud nine
West Indies ‘A’ spinner Jomel Warrican continued to mesmerise the England Lions batsmen, taking 8-34 to ensure the hosts had the better of yesterday’s opening day of the second “Test” match at Sabina Park.
Yesterday he improved on his previous first-class best — which was 8-72 — as West Indies A closed on 159-4 in their first innings, giving them a lead of 14 runs after the Lions lost the toss and were sent to take first strike.
“It feels very good, this being my best figures in first-class cricket. It’s a good achievement against an established team. It helped put the team in a good a position to bat well and get a big total on the board so we can look to come out victorious,” Warrican, 25, told the Jamaica Observer during an interview at the end of the day.
His figures are also the best by a West Indian against England at this level.
The slow left-arm orthodox bowler only last week engineered the demise of the visitors in the first match at Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium with a match haul of eight wickets, which included 7-33 in the second innings.
He said his latest effort required more guile in less spinner-friendly conditions.
“This pitch did not spin as much as in Trelawny, so I had to be a lot more disciplined and use a lot more variation. To me, this is a better batting wicket, but I just stuck to the task and bowled in good areas,” said the Barbados spinner.
He noted that in a series that has seen low team scores so far, a significant first-innings lead could prove invaluable.
“Both teams have struggled with totals, but so far we’ve batted a lot better and hopefully we set up the game and get the win.”
England Lions’ batsman Joe Clarke, who top-scored with a polished 56 in his team’s 145, said it was difficult maintaining focus as wickets tumbled at the other end. He also pointed out that had chances been taken, the complexion of the match could have been different.
“It was tough because wickets were falling around, but it was nice to contribute and get us up to total of 145. It’s not as much as we’d like, but it’s something we can bowl at and with a few chances at the end there, it could have easily been five or six down,” he told reporters.
Clarke, 21, said batting on the pitch was particularly challenging earlier in the day. And he remains hopeful of a comeback from his team.
“As the day went on it got a bit easier to bat and it wasn’t gripping as much. Our main focus is to [restrict] them as much as we can, and then bat as long as we can and get some sort of lead,” he said.