Tony BeccaTHE CURTAIN comes down on the Cable & Wireless one-day series between the West Indies and South Africa in St. Vincent tomorrow and for regional fans, the only interest is again what next for the home team.
After losing the Test series 2-1 - the one coming in the fifth and final match after the contest had already been decided, the West Indies, after winning the first match at Sabina Park in a thrilling last-ball finish, are trailing 1-5, and unlike the face-saving victory in the final match of the Test series, not even a winning finish at the Arnos Vale will lift the spirits of the fans.
The West Indies have been soundly thrashed and nothing they do now can erase the sad memories of a performance that is best forgotten.
After jumping out in front at Sabina Park, the West Indies performance has got worse and worse with each match - to the extent that South Africa won the second match with eight wickets and 4.1 overs to spare, the third by 132 runs, the fourth with eight wickets and 3.1 overs to spare, the fifth - the decider - with seven wickets and 8.2 overs to spare, and the sixth by 53 runs.
In a batting performance that can only be described as embarrassing, the West Indies scored 202 for seven in the first match, 220 for eight in the second, 155 in the third, 200 in the fourth, 199 in the fifth, and replying to 190, 137 in the sixth - the last seven wickets tumbling for 29 runs.
Although there are fans who believe the West Indies should always bat first because they are not good enough to chase, those poor performances have had nothing to do with when they batted or whether they were chasing.
Not if it is remembered the West Indies batted first three times, second three times and that in two of those times when they batted second, they won the toss and gave it away.
The embarrassment, however, has been not only in the few runs scored, but also in technique and approach. It has been poor throughout the series, remembering the strokes that led to the dismissal of Ricardo Powell, Christopher Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brian Lara and Carl Hooper, it was terrible in the second match in Grenada, and apart from those who committed the cardinal sin of playing back with the ball keeping low, Powell should be ashamed of the stroke he played, to the first ball he received, on Saturday in Port of Spain.
If we accept the fact, however, that despite the presence of some talented young batsmen this West Indies team is weak, and that no one in West Indies cricket, including the captain, has the gift to turn water into wine, even though they should have performed better the real disappointment should not be in the performance of the players.
The real disappointment should be in the selection of the team and the way those selected were used - or not used. It appears as if the selectors have been selecting the players out of a hat, that sometimes the captain and the selectors were not sure who were best suited to bat in certain positions, and that the captain, certainly on one occasion, forgot who were his bowlers.
After their narrow victory at Sabina Park, the West Indies 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.
After losing the first of the two matches in Grenada, they went back to six specialist batsmen and four specialist bowlers and in doing so dropped Hinds, rested Mervyn Dillon and brought back Jeremy and McLean.
If 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, the dropping of Jeremy after one match, the dropping of McLean after one match, and then the selection of both in the same match was bad, there was worse to come.
For the fifth match, Powell, McLean again and left-arm spinner Neil McGarrell, who bowled so well in the first two matches, were dropped, and for the sixth, Gayle was dropped, Powell was recalled and Chanderpaul opened the innings.
The surprise, however, the move that suggested there was madness in the air, was the treatment of Jeremy in the fifth match.
One of three pace bowlers in the team, one of four bowlers in the team, Jeremy did not a bowl a single delivery in the entire match.
According to some pundits, there were reasons for it. One of the reasons expounded was that there was no pace in the pitch; another was that the other two pacers did not bowl well; and yet another was that after bringing in the spin bowlers so early it was difficult to fit in Jeremy.
Cricket is one of those games where one can always find reasons to explain anything and everything. The fact is, however, unless the captain forgot that he was on the field, it is difficult to understand how, regardless of the conditions, regardless of how badly the other pacers bowled, a man selected as one of the team's four specialist bowlers did not bowl in a match that the West Indies lost - and easily at that.
It is one thing not to be blessed with an abundance of skilled players; it is something else, however, not to even use what is available - not to even give someone a chance when others have failed.
To top it all, Jeremy, not good enough to bowl in the fifth match, was back for the sixth - and so too Powell, this time back down the order.
