Batting to the situation

There is no doubt that Kyle Mayers is an asset to the West Indies but does he need to curb his natural instincts?

Jun 24, 2021

West Indies batsman Kyle Mayers recently played a blinder of an innings on the tour of Bangladesh. The Caribbean side were asked to make 395, and the Barbadian cracked an undefeated 210 that ran for all of 310 deliveries and contained 20 fours and seven sixes to lead them to a stunning victory. It was a dominating performance that was scarcely believable, coming as it did from a man playing his very first Test, who barely averaged 30 in First-class cricket, and who had scored just two centuries in more than 30 games.

During that innings, the then 27-year-old played with the kind of skill and aplomb that would’ve prompted many to enquire about his whereabouts all this time. Surely, one who could play like that had to have long been worthy of a place in a side lacking batting talent. Mayers, unsurprisingly, has not reached such heights since. But he’s had four scores over 40 in five additional games and has hinted that his first-game display was no fluke.

And yet there has to be some concern over the way he has gone about the business of batting in Test cricket. Often, he seems to begin his innings as if he were in the middle of his Bangladeshi masterpiece, unveiling all the shots in his repertoire one after the other.

He clearly has a fondness for the pull shot. Give him a delivery even marginally short and he launches into the shot, often with one leg hoisted in a manner not dissimilar to that of his countryman, former West Indian great, Gordon Greenidge. It is a shot by which he scores a fair number of runs but it is a shot that has seen him lose his wicket on occasion.

During the recent series against South Africa he twice lost his wicket attempting to play it. In the first innings of the first Test he tried to pull a ball from Kagiso Rabada on or about off-stump and barely short, only to loft it high to van der Dussen at extra-cover.

In the second innings of the second game he edged one from the same bowler from some distance outside off-stump and was caught by Dean Elgar running back from second slip. The batsman was on 34, had played well up to that point, and was in very little trouble. With his side in serious peril he ought to have been more circumspect.

Playing the pull shot in Bangladesh on low-bouncing surfaces against medium pacers is quite different from playing it on a rather bouncy square in St Lucia against bowlers of the pace and caliber of Rabada and Anrich Nortje.

Mayers, in his brief career, has made it clear that he is a very willing stroke-maker. But batting in such a manner has its pitfalls. The daring shot is exhilarating when it comes off, reckless when it doesn’t. The scorching drive through the covers is a thing of beauty when it whistles to the boundary, but insipid when it peels off the edge into the grasp of the slip-fielder, or miscued into the chest of the man at mid-off.

His shot-making capacity is considerable, and he will no doubt go on to dazzle many a gathering with his range of strokes. But firing off shot after shot is quite different from building an innings, which is something he will be required to do time and time again if he is to have a long test career.

Playing your natural game is good, you are more likely to succeed as Mike Haysman was heard saying on commentary. Yet, your team will often require a different approach and you serve it better if you are able to adjust your usual methods to suit its cause.

On the fourth day of the second test the West Indies required steadiness and purpose. Mayers and his batting partner, Kieran Powell, seemed to have been sailing along rather serenely when Mayers committed his indiscretion and lost his wicket. Perhaps, under the circumstances, and seeing he had recently lost his wicket attempting that same shot against that same bowler, he ought to have allowed the ball to pass safely to the wicket-keeper instead.

Mayers’ wicket was a gift to the South Africans; a wanton waste of a wicket that triggered, as it turned out, a collapse that rushed the West Indies to an early defeat. His batting partner, Kieran Powell, fell at the same score, lifting a slog-sweep off spinner Keshav Maharaj down the throat of the deep mid-wicket fielder. Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva then perished from the next two deliveries to give Mararaj his country’s second hat-trick in Tests.

We can’t tell, of course, what might have transpired had Mayers resisted the urge to attack the delivery that brought about his downfall. But its reasonable to assume the West Indies might well have made things a bit more difficult for their opponents.

This is not to suggest that Mayers is the only, or even the main offender in the team. A number of West Indies batsmen displayed a lack of discipline, or the kind of technique that would make succeeding at the highest level a significant challenge.

Mayers has shown that he, for the most part, has the game to thrive at Test level. His first inclination is to attack. He should know, however, that the demands of his team should often dictate the approach he employs.

West Indies legend Viv Richards was one of the most intimidating batsmen the game has seen, and yet he tailored his methods to fulfil the needs of his team on many occasions. If the great man was willing to do that then Mayers should as well.

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