In his long career, somebody may have once labelled a Dawnley Joseph hand, a captain's knock.
But cricket's long-standing cliche would not have been inappropriate yesterday afternoon during the Trinidad and Tobago/Windwards Islands Busta Cup game at the Queen's Park Oval.
On a day when struggle, not stylish cricket, was the main fare and the ground was still frustratingly stingy with the runs, the Windward Islands captain was faced with bowlers forcing him to work for them. He did.
When he left the field at 5.30 p.m. with wicketkeeper Wayne Phillip in tow, the score stood at 131 for 6 and Joseph's 55 not out stood like a beacon on the electronic scoreboard.
It was a mountainous score in what, on paper at least, seems a molehill of a total.
Statistics alone do not tell the story. But, in a roundabout way, they pay tribute to the Windwards skipper.
In nearly three-and-a-half hours of batting, Joseph managed just three boundaries-three of just five hit in 74 overs of play.
Those stats next to sedate Anil Balliram's name would not raise an eyebrow.
But for a beefy belter of the ball, for a man whose motto has often been ``get going or get out'', this was a significant departure from the norm. It was a very necessary one.
Coming to the wicket at 32 for 3 after lunch, his decision to bat first after winning the toss was not yet justified. And after watching a couple powerful hits beat the fielders but not the field, he applied not brute force but his many years of regional experience-of the kind that his youthful early batsmen could have used themselves.
The loss of the first hour-and-a-half through damp patches in the outfield made Joseph's decision to bat first seem curious.
A lunch score of seven without loss at lunch said little.
But as first Phil Simmons and then skipper Ian Bishop settled into testing spells, the struggle began. Left-handed opener Devon Smith, having got to 17 in 78 minutes, was the first to crack, undone by some superb David Williams glovework.
Having edged Bishop outside off-stump, Smith saw ``Willie'' fling himself full stretch to his left to grasp one-handed a ball about to touch down in front of first slip.
That was Bishop's sole wicket for the day in a spell which read 7-2-9-1. But there could have been more had the skipper been able more frequently to support his off-cut with a slightly fuller length. Thoughtful Simmons had more success (14-3-19-3).
He accounted for the next two wickets. The first came when, with the total on 28 for 2, Reynold McLean pushed what seemed a slower ball to debutant Vishal Persad-Maharaj (in for Avidesh Samaroo).
Four runs later Balty Watt went, thanks to sharp Simmons tactics.
Having put in a third slip for the new batsman, Simmons reaped immediate reward, Watt giving Persad-Maharaj a straightforward catch.
In came Joseph. But he would lose struggling Joseph Parillon before tea. Kept scoreless for 54 balls and 82 minutes, Parillon eventually laboured to 13 (155 minutes) before he was caught at forward short-leg off Mukesh Persad.
By tea, taken at 77 for 5, the first boundaries had come, Joseph having successively twice pulled for two of them off Persad-Maharaj whose first three overs in regional cricket had been maidens.
After the interval, however, the Windwards skipper consolidated with Vernon Dumas. Constantly looking for the singles, he posted 41 for the fifth wicket with Dumas. But at 91, Black in a new spell, pitched up and got his reward, bowling Dumas middle stump.
Like Bishop, his returns would have been greater had he hit the right length.
Hard-hitting Roy Marshall only managed two boundaries in 42 minutes before he lost his head, skying Simmons to Lincoln Roberts at mid-off.
Joseph, however, has not lost his. And while Bishop will be striving for quick results this morning, dedicated Dawnley will hope to see his patience pay rich dividends.
Day 4: Frustrated Trinidad and Tobago prepare for Jamaica
``We were hoping that we could get as many points as possible, maybe the whole sixteen. But the weather was always going to be a major factor in this game.''
A frustrated-sounding Trinidad and Tobago captain Ian Bishop, talking to the media yesterday afternoon, was performing about the only duty required of him.
For the second day in succession, a combination of rain and a soggy outfield had combined to keep his team and Dawnley Joseph's Windward Islands side off the Queen's Park Oval field. This time, the Busta Cup match was abandoned, with both sides sharing four points and a fair amount of frustration.
``Although the weather played a big part, we would have liked to get first innings points at least,'' said Windwards captain Dawnley Joseph.
``We were very disappointed. In the first place, the game should have played in St Lucia. We didn't get to know until maybe the day before we were to leave for St Lucia. Then we came here with the expectation of playing very well because we always give Trinidad a good fight,'' added Joseph, whose unbeaten 69 was the innings around which his side's total of 148 was built. T&T ended the match still stuck on 71 for 3. And Bishop conceded that the unpredictable weather was making planning difficult.
``It's difficult to adopt any approach really,'' he said.
``You just have to hope that you get better weather for the four days (against Jamaica) because it's difficult to adopt any approach really, whether to bat first, to bowl first, what sort of pace to apply when you're batting. It's very, very difficult.''
Still the local skipper was able to take small comforts from the cricket that was played.
``Mukesh Persad,'' Bishop noted, ``...bowled very, very well in the two games. Leon Romero has batted well once again. He did not get as many (runs) as at Guaracara Park this time around but it shows he has the ability to play at this level. Marlon Black continues to do well. It shows that the first game wasn't a fluke, that we are playing reasonably well, that the guys are dedicated no matter who we are coming up against.'' Similar dedication and perhaps more doses of patience will be needed when Jimmy Adams's Jamaicans come to town for the third round fixture that starts at the Oval on Thursday.
For that match, both fastbowler Mervyn Dillon and opener Suruj Ragoonath could be in the starting line-up.
The two are part of a squad of 15 (the other 13 remain the same as for the Windwards match) that will prepare for the game. But Ragoonath, suffering from a hairline fracture of a finger, will have to undergo a fitness test.