MATCH STORIES
Follow UsIt was neither Akeal Hosein nor Gudakesh Motie – two of West Indies’ primary spinners – who ran the show against the USA on June 21 (Friday) in Barbados, but it was, in fact, Roston Chase who led the way for his side with his career-best figures of 3/19.
In this T20WC, Hosein has done the job for his side in the first six, while Motie has quietly gone about his business in the middle-overs. However, what the USA batters did well was that they gave away a combined one wicket to these bowlers. That being said, at the same time, they did not take many runs off them, scoring just 25 runs in the six overs the left-arm spinners bowled.
That strategy made perfect sense, as the US batters seemed to have a plan to go after the other bowlers. But while Obed McCoy, Alzarri Joseph and even Andre Russell bore the brunt of some attacking strokeplay, Chase chose this day to be a thorn in the USA batters’ flesh.
If you think the off-spinner has been this consistent with his length only in this game, think again.
Motie and Chase are the ones who generally bowl in the middle overs for West Indies after Hosein’s initial burst in the powerplay, which is usually mighty effective. It works from a match-up point of view as well. While Motie could potentially be a threat to the right-handers, Chase, like he showed today, is someone who the left-handed batters struggle against. He can flight the ball and also bowl the quick ones without faltering in his line and length, which makes him effective.
On the night, he first got the better of Aaron Jones, who missed a slog sweep with a flat delivery, angling in at about 94 KMPH. But the ball to trap Corey Anderson in front was an arm ball at 109 KMPH when the batter was looking to play for the spin.
Seeing this, new batter Harmeet Singh would have hoped for a similar delivery. But what followed was a loopy, tossed-up delivery that the southpaw looked work through the on-side but ended up getting a leading edge which took it straight to backward point.
In back-to-back deliveries, Chase displayed two different skillsets that make him dangerous.
Playing just his 18th T20 International (T20I), Chase has never previously got a long rope in the side as he has this year. The Windies are reaping the rewards as the all-rounder has picked up eight wickets at 15.62 (ER 5.88) and has slammed 178 runs at a strike rate of 150.84 in 2024, turning out to be the best year of his career in the format.
When it comes bowling, he has always been in the shadows of the other two spinners in the side, but against the USA, Chase showed he can add another dimension to this three-pronged attack. It should not come as a surprise as Chase’s bowling skill was on display especially in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2023, where he he picked up 11 wickets at 15.81.
We have not seen much of Chase the batter in this T20WC, but he saved West Indies from an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) in their first game, scoring an unbeaten 27-ball 42 to take his side home in a tricky run-chase.
He is West Indies’ designated No. 4 and has not fared badly in that position either. Barring the duck against New Zealand earlier in the tournament, in the four previous innings in that position in 2024, he has had scores of 42* (27) vs PNG, 67* (38) vs South Africa, 32* (30) vs South Africa and 37 (20) vs Australia.
With bat and ball, that’s as solid a performance as you could hope for, from your spin-bowling all-rounder.
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