SOUTH Africa are one away from pocketing the Cable & Wireless One-Day series. On Sunday they defeated the West Indies for a 3-1 lead and with three matches to go, the visitors, having won the Test series, are well on the way to the double. After winning the first match at Sabina Park in a thrilling last-ball finish, there was hope that with a little more luck the West Indies would win the series. Although captain Carl Hooper apparently is still hoping, it seems all over bar the shouting.
In one-day cricket, nothing is impossible but with South Africa winning the second match with eight wickets and 4.1 overs to spare, the third by 132 runs, and the fourth with eight wickets and 3.1 overs to spare, it is highly improbable.
Three out of three by this West Indies team against the South Africans would be more than a surprise. It would be a shocker. The West Indies have been outplayed in every department of the game.
In the field, the South Africans have been so brilliant that after scoring only 200 in the first match, they held the Windies right to the last delivery.
Supported by some brilliant catching, their bowling has limited the West Indies to 202 for seven and 220 for eight and routed them for 155 in 39 and 200 in 49.3 overs. After stumbling at Sabina Park, their batting has been so solid while scoring 221 for two off 45.5 overs, 287 for four off 50, and 201 for two off 46.1.
That is dominance, no question about it.
The South Africans have been so dominant that Hooper, the captain, who was expected to turn around the Windies fortunes, appears to have conceded.
After dismissing the visitors for a relatively small score in the first match and struggling to win off the last delivery. Batting first, then second and losing on each occasion, and after losing the toss and sent to bat in the fourth match, Hooper, in reply to the question as to what he would have done had he won the toss, said it did not matter whether the West Indies bat first or second.
Hooper did not go further, and he did not have to. It was obvious what he meant.
Although their bowling, but for pacer Cameron Cuffy in the first three matches and left-arm leg spinner Neil McGarrell in the first two, has been below par, and with the exception of Sabina Park, so too their fielding, the West Indies batting, first or second, has been disappointing.
Unlike South Africa who have scored 709 runs off 142 overs for the loss of only six wickets in the last three matches, the West Indies record for those three matches reads, 575 runs off 138.3 overs for the loss of 28 wickets.
That is embarrassing and but for a gem here and there, one by Brian Lara at Sabina Park, one by Hooper at Sabina Park, one by Christopher Gayle at the Antigua Recreation Ground, one by Shivnarine Chanderpaul at the ARG, and one by Marlon Samuels at Queen's Park, the batsmen have been guilty of not performing.
Sunday at Queen's Park was like a nightmare to West Indian fans. Ricardo Powell, Gayle, Chanderpaul, Lara and Hooper were all dismissed in a manner which would have been embarrassing to schoolboys.
The question, therefore, is not whether the West Indies can win the next three matches and win the series. It is what next for them as they try to pull something out of the hat.
After their narrow victory at Sabina Park, they dropped pacer Kerry Jeremy and brought in Nixon McLean with Chanderpaul replacing the injured Powell. After losing at the ARG, they dropped Leon Garrick and McLean, brought in batsman Wavell Hinds, went in with three specialist bowlers and seven specialist batsmen and used Powell as one of the openers and after losing the first match at Queen's Park, they went back to six specialist batsmen and four specialist bowlers and in doing so dropped Hinds, rested Mervyn Dillon, and brought back both Jeremy and McLean.
The poor bowling, poor fielding and poor batting of the West Indies must be a headache for the captain and the selectors - as it was for James Adams and this same set of selectors.
That, however, does not make it any easier to understand the selection of six specialist batsmen, then seven and then back to six, the selection of four specialist bowlers, then three and then back to four, the batting of Hinds at number eight and Powell at number two, and most importantly, the dropping of Jeremy after one match, the dropping of McLean after one match, and then the selection of both in the same match.
FROM THE
BOUNDARY
Tony Becca
