West Indies fast bowler Shannon Gabriel has praised former T&T allrounder Kelvin Williams after his brilliant performance against Pakistan at Kensington Oval, which gave the West Indies victory by 106 runs yesterday.
The big pacer grabbed 5/11 off 11 overs to cripple Pakistan’s chase of 188 runs, as they crashed to the lowest score at Kensington Oval in Test cricket 81 runs. Gabriel ended the match with nine wickets to claim the man of the match title. His efforts now keeps the West Indies in the series at 1-1 with the final Test to be played at Windsor Park in Dominica from next Wednesday. His previous best Test figures was 5/96 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.
Speaking after play, Gabriel said: “Since my under-19 days I have worked with Kelvin and even up to now I do work with him. I would really like to thank him today for what he has done for me. I would also like to thank our fast bowling coach Roddy Estwick because I have working with him to get my bowling up to scratch.”
Gabriel, who comes from La Romaine in San Fernando, woke up an unresponsive pitch at Kensington with nine wickets put described it as poor.
“The pitch here was poor but you had to put that out of your mind and just go out there and do the job. One would like a pitch with something for the fast bowlers, some grass but that was not what we got here.”
He was happy with the captaincy of Jason Holder.
“Jason is a good captain, he is learning on the job and is always open to suggestions. He will do well and we are looking forward to the final Test in Dominica,” said Gabriel, who plays for Queen’s Park Cricket Club (Club).
Holder said he was happy with the win and looking forward to more success in Dominica.
“The team did well here on a pitch that was not all that good. We have been working hard and we are looking forward to playing the final Test in Dominica. We have now won two of our last three Test matches and this will give the guys confidence moving forward. It was a great team effort and the guys just have to keeping believing in themselves as we move from match to match.”
Holder had a very good match taking six wickets and scoring a half century.
“I was happy with my performance in this match. I see myself as a holding bowler doing the hard work keeping it tight and it worked out for me in this match.”
He would like to advance in the batting order saying: “I would like to move up in the batting order but I have to provide the numbers for that. I enjoy my batting and just go out there every time to do the best for my team.”