Former West Indies fast bowler, Kenneth “Flipper” Benjamin, is urging spinner and fellow Antiguan, Hayden Walsh Jr., to spend more time working at his craft if he is to remain consistent while commanding a place in the senior men’s team.
The coach’s statement comes on the heels of West Indies’ ODI series loss to Sri Lanka on Wednesday after the regional team went down by five wickets in the second match in Pallekele, Sri Lanka.
Born in the USVI, the 32-year-old Walsh Jr, who started his international career with the US in 2019, has had a stop-start stint with the Windies since making his debut for the Men in Maroon in November 2019.
In the three-match ODI series away to Sri Lanka earlier this month, Walsh Jr had a difficult time in spin-friendly conditions – going wicketless in the first two ODIs and conceding 78 runs from nine overs before losing his place for the last match.
“I, myself, believe that he spends a little too much time on the golf course in terms of putting in more [into his bowling] because that is a very difficult art. Leg-break is a very difficult trade in cricket n terms of wrist spin so Hayden will need to definitely need to find the right balance,” he said.
Benjamin, who works with Walsh as part of the Liberta Blackhawks squad in the local cricket competition, said the player is often concerned with his performances but urges him to remember that leg-break is often a very difficult form of spin.
“He worries about of his form a lot and I think it is hard for him too grasp that this is the most difficult and I don’t care how good they are in terms of the Zampa and all of them, they have times when they look like they shouldn’t even be playing Parish League cricket because it is a difficult art. When you are bowling the ball from the back of the hand, anything can go wrong at any time but the thing about it is that when you’re [on top of your game], you’re the most difficult component in the game of cricket,” the former player.
As for the performance of the team in Sri Lanka, Benjamin said there were no surprises there.
“I don’t want to say it is what I expected but put it this way, I am not surprised because we haven’t been very consistent over the years so our problem is consistency. We’re going to have a couple of good performances but in terms of being consistent, I am not surprised that we are not as consistent as we should be. Disappointed yes, but not surprised,” he said.