http://www.senore.com/Cricket/CH-Gayle-c1221 made the difference says Ross Taylor - Cricket News Update
The Kiwi skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/LRPL-Taylor-c1849, has acknowledged the brilliance of young spinner Sunil Narine and star batsman Chris Gayle, adding that the duo were the main difference between the two sides. The visiting captain was speaking after his team suffered a 9-wicket
defeat at the hands of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 in the first Test at Antigua..
"They are a side that relies heavily on Narine and Gayle to do well for them. Gayle batted very well and gave us an opportunity but we didn't take it. Narine, if he is not taking wickets, doesn't go for lot of runs,” said Taylor.
Narine and Gayle have inflicted the most damage to the Black Caps since the bilateral series started from Jun 30. The right-arm off-break bowler has been in supreme touch with the ball and has bamboozled the visitors with his metronomic control and varieties.
His 8-wicket haul in the opening Test is in addition to 13 he picked in the preceding five-match One Day International (ODI) series to go along with 7 in the two T20 encounters. With one Test remaining, the 24-year-old will be eager to add to his already
impressive tally.
As for Gayle, the swashbuckling left-handed batsman has defied all odds despite an 18-month absence from the international cricket, starting the series from where he left-off in late 2010.
The star batsman has hit a rich vein of form and struck 150 and 64* in his first Test since Dec 2010, continuing his successful run since making his comeback into the national squad during the English tour earlier in the month.
The tall Jamaican has been in imperious touch, and has already amassed 527 runs (Test: 214, 5 ODIs: 220 and 2 T20Is: 138) in the series.
However, keeping his focus on Narine, the Kiwi captain believes that his players eventually did well to play the Trinidad spinner, and hopes for a better performance in the next match.
“I was pleased with the team in the way we played him. There were a few soft dismissals in the fist innings against him but other than that we played him really well," added http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915.
The win at Antigua is the first by the hosts against the visitors since 1996. The second Test of the Digicel Test series will be played in Kingston starting from Aug 2.
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