Chase: 'We could have made room for an extra spinner'

On a pitch where spinners took 20 of the 30 bowler wickets that fell in the match, West Indies picked only one frontline spinner

Roston Chase feels West Indies may have got the balance of their bowling attack wrong for the second Test against Pakistan at the Queen's Park Oval. On a pitch where spinners took 20 of the 30 bowler wickets that fell over the Test match, West Indies played just one frontline spinner to Pakistan's two.

Ordinarily, Chase himself would have been able to bowl long spells of offspin in support of the left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican, but a finger injury that he has been nursing since before the series restricted him to a bit-part role with the ball.

"I don't want to say we misread the pitch, but we didn't think that it was going to spin as much from so early," Chase said in his post-match press conference, after Pakistan won by eight wickets to level the two-Test series 1-1. "So I think that that is where the problem came in.RelatedWarrican cherishes 'extremely special' six-for after 46 overs of toil

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"And also my injury, I think that we thought I would have been able to bowl a lot more, but rushing back from the injury a bit too quickly, and I was still in some pain in terms of bowling. So I think that was a bit of a dilemma for us."

Chase said West Indies could have found a way to make room for an extra spinner - the uncapped Joshua Bishop was the other frontline option in their squad - though not at his own expense, given he was still able to contribute in his primary role.

"Captaining the side, I would never leave myself out to play anyone else," Chase said. "If I am outright injured and can't play, then I would sit out. But once I can still play as a batsman, I will always play. But I do think that we could have made room for an extra spinner, but it wouldn't have been [instead of] myself at all."

Looking back at the way the Test match panned out, Chase felt West Indies' fast bowlers took too long to recognise that conditions wouldn't allow them to blast out Pakistan's batters, and that they would need to bowl with more patience and create pressure by drying up the runs. Replying to West Indies' first-innings 344, Pakistan scored 266 for 2, at more than four runs an over, by stumps on day two.

"I think that we took a bit too long to adapt to the conditions," Chase said. "The wicket wasn't one that was assisting the fast bowlers as much like [the] Brian Lara [Stadium in Tarouba, which hosted the first Test].

"So I think it's a case where we needed to be more patient and just try to defend one side of the wicket and just try to squeeze them as much as possible into making a mistake, but we still tried to blast them out per se, and I think that gave them too many runs before we really locked it down and stuck to the plan and were a bit more disciplined."Chase on Roach: 'I will always encourage Kemar to keep going'•AFP/Getty Images

Seam-bowling allrounder Justin Greaves sustained a leg injury while batting during West Indies' first innings, and it kept him from bowling in the Test match. Greaves had been Player of the Match in the first Test, picking up seven wickets including a five-for in the first innings, and Chase felt his unavailability with the ball had hurt West Indies in Port of Spain.

"Yeah, it was a big miss for me because when things tend to start straying away, Justin is a guy that I can always call on to come and pull it back. He's that guy that he's more of a holding bowler, but he holds so well that it creates so much pressure that he tends to get wickets as well, by batsmen making mistakes, and we saw it in the last game - once he gets going, he's really hard to stop. So, yeah, it was a big miss for us as well with that injury. So I just hope that he can get back to full fitness as quick as possible."

While conceding that West Indies could have done better with their selection and bowling discipline, Chase said he would have liked the pitch in Port of Spain to have provided a little more help to the fast bowlers.

"Obviously with a bowling attack like ours, the strength is in the pace bowling," he said. "I would have liked obviously a bit more grass and something a bit more advantageous to the fast bowlers, but we didn't get that, and we saw it from even before the game started, so we knew what was in front of us but I would still like to have a pitch that would have assisted the fast bowlers a bit more."

Warrican was West Indies' most impressive performer in the Test match, bowling 46 out of 115 overs in Pakistan's first innings and picking up a six-wicket haul.

"Yeah, I thought his effort was a magnificent one," Chase said. "I mean, he bowled really long for those wickets, and I thought his patience was up to par. I thought he really stuck to the task and just put the ball in front of the batsman and allowed the pitch to work for him, and he finally reaped the reward.

"So I want to say congrats to Jomel Warrican and especially for a guy who hasn't been playing as many matches given that we tend to go with the pacers more often than not."

West Indies' pace attack over the home season was once again led by Kemar Roach, who reached the milestone of 300 Test wickets during the series against Sri Lanka that preceded Pakistan's visit. West Indies' next Test series, a two-match tour of Bangladesh in October-November, is their final assignment of the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle. Given that Roach is 38 and only plays one format, it is unclear how long he will continue playing for West Indies, but Chase urged him to keep going.

"Kemar Roach, he's a legend," Chase said. "I will always encourage Kemar to keep going. I think Kemar is kind of a guy that, he knows himself, he knows his limits, he knows his body. And for me, if I had to say it, I think it would be up to Kemar for when he's ready to call it quits. He's been doing very well for us - past 300 wickets, he still has a lot to offer. I will always encourage Kemar to keep going."