CARLTON BAUGH GETS MORE THAN A PASSING GRADE

After he was offered a central contract by the West Indies cricket board in September this year, Carlton Baugh Jr. told me during an interview on my show Sportsnation Live that airs on Nationwide radio, that he plans to do everything possible to maintain his place in the West Indies team.
Now that he is on his first tour as a West Indies player in six years, he seems to be staying true to his word.
In the recently drawn Test match against Sri Lanka in Colombo Baugh acquitted himself well with a hard-fought half century that is sure to assure the selectors that they made the right choice in taking him on tour over the hapless Denesh Ramdin, who over the past few years have frustrated and in some instances, angered fans across the Caribbean with his woeful under-performance with the bat.
So far this tour Baugh has been called upon to bat twice; once in the first Test in Galle where when he came to the crease the West Indies had already made more than enough runs to ensure that they would not lose the match but during a period when the West Indies were in the throes of yet another middle-order collapse.
Yet, he endured. He chose his shots well and was unbeaten on eight when the declaration came at 580 for 9.
It might not have been many runs but it was his application that would have caught the attention.
Then in Colombo, again in the only opportunity he had to defend his place in the team as a capable batsman, Baugh again came to the crease when the West Indies middle order had fallen away. The very promising Darren Bravo had just lost his wicket for a well-played 80. Bravo and vice captain Brendan Nash had provided some middle order grit in putting on 83 runs for the fourth wicket before Nash, in my estimation, was controversially given out leg before wicket to Tilakeratne Dilshan for a hard fought 29. The decision seemed to unsettle Bravo, who before then had seemed extremely composed. But a couple balls later, he lashed out at Dilshan and lost his wicket. The score was 161 for 5.
That brought Baugh to the crease and he and Darren’s older brother Dwayne, set about repairing the damage.
They went to stumps that night on 165 for 5 with Baugh on four and Bravo on 1.
On the final day of the match in which the West Indies were first required to get an additional 24 runs to avoid the follow on. They did that easily enough but then Bravo got out for 20 and the situation – as it so often is for the West Indies – began to look dicey. But Baugh hung in there. He scored when he could and defended when he should and scratched himself what turned out to be a match-saving inning for the West Indies.
Let us hope now that as they move on to the next Test match which begins in Pallekele on December 1, that Baugh will continue applying himself at the crease, as he has been doing behind it.
In case you thought I forgot, Baugh has been almost excellent behind the stumps in his primary role as a wicketkeeper. He has been solid when keeping to the pace of pacers like Kemar Roach, Sammy and Andre Russell but he has been equally impressive keeping up to the wicket to the likes of Shane Shillingford, Sulieman Benn and even Brendan Nash.
We wish him continued success. I think everyone watching will agree that Baugh has justified the selectors’ decision in picking him for this tour.