West Indies were again guilty of letting a strong position slip from their grasp when they ended the second day of the third test against Australia 163 runs adrift, but their young squad will be given a chance to develop.
Australia’s tail wagged to punish the hosts, recovering from 169 for seven to reach 328 all out before the Caribbean middle order slumped as the home side fell to 165-8.
It was a disappointing day for the Dominican crowd, who had hoped to see Darren Sammy’s young team push on from their promising work on Monday and make a bid to tie the three-test series.
Despite the setback, assistant coach Toby Radford said that his inexperienced team were going to be given a chance to prove their potential.
“These are young guys, talented guys, who I think will have good careers and we’ve got to be patient with them,” the Welshman said.
“It’s not suicide for us. You learn, you come back and are stronger. Hopefully we can go to England and then perform there,” he said, looking ahead to the next action for West Indies.
Opening batsmen Adrian Barath and Kraigg Brathwaite have not been able to give their team solid starts with just one half-century stand between them in this series.
Brathwaite, who made his third consecutive duck on Tuesday, is just 19-year-old, however, and his partner is only three years his senior.
With Darren Bravo, 23, and Kieran Powell, 22, also in the lineup, 37-year-old Shivnarine Chanderpaul is the only top order batsman with extensive international experiece.
Radford said the West Indies coaching staff were working closely with Barbadian Brathwaite, who made a half-century in the first test and is considered one of the most exciting prospects in the Caribbean.
“You chat with him. You talk with him. You practice with him whenever you can and you remind him how good a player he is. He played very well in Barbados in that first innings,” he said.
“Today he got out in a similar fashion to how he got out in the second innings in Barbados, just hanging the bat a little bit, but again you back him.
“He’s a good player. He’s a young player. Our job as coaches is to keep his confidence high and work on any little issues as they come along. You’ve got to back your young players,” he added.
