Someone ‘dropped the ball’ on Beaton: Sir Viv
ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC): LEGENDARY FORMER captain Sir Vivian Richards believes that someone in the current West Indies set-up should have picked up on fast bowler Ronsford Beaton’s suspect action before he reached international level.
Beaton was reported to the International Cricket Council for a suspect bowling action, following the second One-Day International against New Zealand in Christchurch last week.
The 25-year-old Guyanese had made his debut in the first ODI in Whangarei just days prior.
Beaton previously represented West Indies Under-19s, West Indies A, and was also called up for the Afghanistan Twenty20s earlier this year, though he failed to get a game.
Sir Viv said that with the player having gone through so many of the different stages of West Indies cricket, the onus was on coaches to identify these types of flaws.
“He [Windies bowling coach Roderick Estwick] is supposed to have the know-how and the technical knowledge as to how to get these guys and correct them, and these guys [players] would have been through that particular department for quite some time to try and rectify all that,” Sir Viv told the Observer newspaper here.
“Here now, he goes on tour, and he is reported and especially around individuals who would have been given the responsibility to make sure that this guy, all is fine with him and that’s why he is on tour, so somebody dropped the ball somewhere guys.”
Beaton has impressed in the shorter formats of the game. In the last Regional Super50 earlier this year, he claimed 14 wickets at 20 runs apiece and also picked up 11 wickets at an economy rate of 7.7 runs in the Caribbean Premier League this year.
SIDE STRAIN
He was selected for the ongoing T20 series against the Black Caps but was forced to return home after picking up a side strain.
Beaton is the second West Indies bowler in the last five months to be reported for a suspect action, with parttime off-spinner Kraigg Brathwaite suffering the same fate following the first Test against England last August.
Brathwaite was subsequently cleared by the ICC to resume bowling, following a range of tests on his action.