BRISBANE, Australia, CMC – Veteran seamer Kemar Roach has warned understudy Shamar Joseph to be wary of “distractions” after his massive impact on the opening Test against Australia last week.
The 24-year-old, with only five first-class matches under his belt, produced a stunning effort on debut to claim five wickets in the first innings at Adelaide Oval, emerging as the brightest spark for the tourists amid their 10-wicket thrashing inside three days.
With the Twenty20 franchise leagues now likely to come calling, Roach urged Joseph to clarify his objectives.
“The best advice I can give him is to build his legacy,” said the 35-year-old Roach, featured in 80 Tests since making his debut 15 years ago.
“Understand what you want from cricket. That’s up to him to determine if it’s monetary or just statistics.
“There’s going to be a lot of distractions. He’s a hot commodity right now.”
Roach is the leader of an inexperienced fast-bowling unit, with Alzarri Joseph, the only other bowler with significant Test experience, with 31 Tests.
The two other seamers on tour are Justin Greaves, who debuted in Adelaide, and the uncapped Akeem Jordan.
Roach, who lies fifth on the all-time West Indies list with 267 wickets, said his experience would be crucial to developing the new generation of fast bowlers.
“I had that when I started – Jerome Taylor, Darren Powell, Fidel Edwards – guys who [were] willing to help me when I started my career,” Roach said.
“I took the knowledge and learned from it. For me, it’s all about passing the mantle down to the youngsters.”
West Indies take on Australia in the second Test here starting Thursday, hoping to level the series after their heavy loss last week.
And Roach said their first innings performance in bowling out Australia for 288 had been an excellent boost for the Caribbean side ahead of their series finale.
“I thought we handled ourselves pretty well with the ball [in the opening Test],” Roach said.
“[We] fought back into the game. Bowling Australia out in under 90 overs – that’s a significant achievement for a young bowling line-up.
“It’s a confidence builder for the group, and [now] it’s about us communicating and planning well again. [It’s a] pink ball so that it will be slightly different.”
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