Gayle
Tony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
THE SOUTH African cricketers open the Jamaica leg of their West Indies tour with a two-day practice match against Jamaica at Jarrett Park today and all eyes will be on the performance of opening batsman Leon Garrick.
The little man enjoyed a wonderful Busta Series, in the four Test matches to date, Wavell Hinds has not distinguished himself, and although it is a practice match, a good performance from Garrick could win him his first Test cap.
Ever since the start of the Test series, already won by South Africa who are leading 2-0 with one match to go, cricket fans around the region have been calling for Garrick as the left-handed Christopher Gayle's partner and chances are if he comes good over the next two days, the selectors will call on him.
There are two reasons why the fans have been calling for Garrick - the number of runs he scored this season and the fact he and Gayle compliment each other and would form the ideal combination at the top of the West Indies order.
In contrast to the tall, left-handed Gayle who is a powerful backfoot player, Garrick is short, he is right-handed, although he is a lovely cutter, he is a beautiful driver off the front-foot and as far as line and their length are concerned, they could make life difficult for the South African bowlers.
There are other reasons, however, why Garrick deserves a chance. Technically, he is sound, and as a stroke player, he is a classic batsman. Sometimes, particularly when he is cutting or driving square on the offside, he reminds of Lawrence Rowe.
And there is still one more reason. With Gayle as one of the opening batsmen, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul expected to retain his place at number three, and with Brian Lara, despite the calls for him to bat at number three, expected to come in at number four, Garrick would be the only right-hander in the first four in the batting order.
Garrick, however, is not the only Jamaican hunting a good performance in this match. So too must be Hinds who would like to retain his place, Marlon Samuels, who was dropped for the fourth Test, Ricardo Powell, who was dropped from the Jamaica team during the Busta Series, fast bowler Franklyn Rose, who has been sidelined since the Windies tour of England last year, and Gareth Breese who, apart from a desire to score some runs, would like to test his bowling against batsmen who have a reputation of batting well against offspin.
The team: Robert Samuels - captain, Leon Garrick, Christopher Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels, Ricardo Powell, Gareth Breese, Keith Hibbert, Nehemiah Perry, Franklyn Rose, Audley Sanson.
The match gets underway at 10 a.m.
