FEATURES
Follow UsWest Indies’ Test wicketkeepers have never captured the imagination of cricket fans as a batter. Jeffrey Dujon was probably an exception. The Jamaican with most Tests for West Indies as a wicketkeeper, had the highest batting average (31.5) among the glovemen during his career span between 1981 and 1991 (31.5)
But overall, West Indies have been thin on receiving batting contributions from their wicketkeepers.
After Dujon (79 Tests), Denesh Ramdin (75 Tests) and Ridley Jacobs (65 Tests) have played the most Tests as designated wicketkeepers for the Caribbean side. Unlike Dujon, Ramdin and Jacobs averaged much lower than other wicketkeepers of their era. Jacobs began his career in the late 90s when teams were actively looking for glovesmen who could also contribute with the bat.
The likes of Adam Gilchrist, Andy Flower, and Alec Stewart played impactful innings as wicket-keeper batters. West Indies though kept falling behind in the race of wicket-keepers contributing with the bat.
Jacobs played from 1998 to 2004. Ramdin had the lowest batting average for any wicketkeeper-batter of his active years (2005 to 2016) with more than 1,000 runs. Shane Dowrich looked promising but couldn't meet the world standards. His average of 29.7 suffers the same fate as Ramdin. West Indies moved on from him in 2020, replacing him with Joshua Da Silva.
At first glance, Da Silva’s numbers don’t instil much confidence either. An average of 26.8, lower than Dowrich's in 29 Tests and only one hundred makes him no different than other West Indian wicketkeepers. However, if anything, he has established himself as a player who shouldn’t be judged by numbers, as of now.
The 26-year-old from Trinidad has emerged into a crisis man and a partnership builder for the West Indies. It is a pretty underrated stat but defines Da Silva comprehensively: he has been part of 14 of West Indies’ top 50 partnerships in Tests since 2020. Only the skipper Kraigg Brathwaite is named on more occasions in these partnerships, 16 times.
In only his third Test, Da Silva forged a 118-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Alzarri Joseph. He himself scored 92, helping the West Indies to a 17-run win in Bangladesh. During his maiden Test ton (100* versus England), he revived the West Indies from 95/6 at his entry point to a first-innings lead of 93 runs.
This year, the right-hander set up his team’s famous Gabba Test win, scoring 79 in a 149-run stand with Kavem Hodge. In Nottingham, Da Silva again pushed West Indies into the lead, this time with a 71-run partnership with the number 11, Shamar Joseph.
Da Silva loves to bat. He is in the BJ Watling mould. He bats way down the batting order (26 innings at number seven & 15 at number eight) but isn’t hurried and likes to take his time. His strike rate is 40.03. Watling batted at 42.6.
"I'm just batting balls. When I bat balls, I know runs will come in the end, I'm not too fazed about what my strike rate looks like,” Da Silva said in 2022 during the home Tests against England. His mindset to bat balls enables him to forge partnerships even when he is not scoring runs. Between 2021 and 2023, he averaged only 23.1 as a batter. However, he was still involved in handy partnerships.
He is now a partnership builder in a line-up that lacks batters with the appetite to bat long. Since 2020, West Indies have the second-lowest average runs per partnership for the top five wickets. Thus, Da Silva’s ability to forge partnerships down the order becomes critical for them.
There is a methodical approach to his art of forming partnerships. "Da Silva's encouragement to build partnerships, to look at small totals, every 10 runs, start over from zero again to score another 10 runs, and again another ten runs, and in a matter of no time, we had an 80-run partnership,” said Alzarri Joseph, the Trinidadian's partner at the other end during their 118-run stand with the wicketkeeper-batter against Bangladesh.
On his Test debut in New Zealand, Da Silva refused a single while batting on 49 to protect the number 10 batter from facing five balls of Trent Boult’s over. The maturity to separate the lure of a fifty on debut from what the team required reflected at the beginning itself.
The right-hander has shown all the qualities of cracking Test cricket at a higher level than his numbers suggest. Struggling in Test cricket, West Indies are known to show fight in patches and Da Silva has been a common figure across most of those patches.
Consequently, he has played in each of the 29 Tests for West Indies since his debut, reflecting the team's trust in him. Given the ingredients, the Maroon caps would want him to average 40-plus by the end of his career. And as the cliché ‘World cricket needs a strong West Indies side’ suggests, the rest of the world would appreciate the man from Trinidad to fulfil his potential too.
Despite only one fifty in the recently concluded series in England, Da Silva had a decent tour with another score of 49 and showing more promise for future. In the absence of Alzarri, who is rested for the upcoming two Tests against South Africa, he has been ascended to the vice-captaincy role.
Having faced the Proteas twice — two Tests at home and two away — Da Silva averages only 12.1 against them, his second-lowest against any side in the longest format. However, with four years of Test cricket behind his back and the responsibility of vice-captaincy on his shoulders, it is now time for him to start pushing towards that 40-run average mark.
If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out — big time. Play Fantasy on Cricket.com NOW! Download the App here.
