By Tony Becca - On The Boundary 
Dillon
THERE IS still one day to go in the second Test match between the West Indies and Australia and although the game of cricket is such that something surprising could happen, the Aussies, winners of the first Test, are in command and in with a good chance of making it two from two in the four-match contest.
There are many reasons why Australia are in command. One is that they are strong, very strong, in every department of the game; two is that although their batting is fairly strong, the West Indies are weak, very weak, in bowling and fielding; and three is that Australia won the toss and batted first.
AUSTRALIA IN COMMAND
There are, however, probably two other reasons why Australia are in command. One is that the West Indies are one bowler short, two is that they are without a spin bowler, and it would be interesting to hear the explanation for that.
After going into the first Test at Bourda with four bowlers four pacers and losing it, the West Indies, preparing for the second Test at Queen's Park Oval and without pacer Jermaine Lawson, not only called pacer Tino Best into the squad, but also offspinner Omari Banks.
That suggested that Banks would be in the final 11, and with the West Indies one-down, with the pitch expected to assist spin bowlers certainly more than the one at Bourda, and remembering Australia's history against good spin bowling, that seemed a good move by the selectors.
Surprisingly, however, the West Indies not only left out Banks and went in without a spin bowler, but in a Test match in which the opposition played five specialist bowlers, including two spinners, they also left out Best and went in with only three specialist bowlers.
Looking at the standard of bowling in the West Indies, the inexperience of Banks, and although that was due to the skill and brilliance of Brian Lara and to a lesser extent that of Daren Ganga, the fate of the Aussie spinners, it may not have mattered especially as Australia batted first.
DECLARATION
The fact, however, is that but for a declaration or two, a team can only win if it bowls out the opposition twice, and the West Indies attack that was selected did not even provide a hope of that happening.
Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins and Vasbert Drakes are average pacers at best, as promising as David Bernard Jnr is, at this stage of his career his medium-pace is not good enough for him to be the fourth bowler in a Test match, and Marlon Samuels' offspin is such easy pickings in a Test match that no one should look to him to get wickets.
Win, lose or draw, a Test match is a Test match, there is a level of skill that one expects in a Test match, and apart from the fact that three specialist bowlers must give the opposition a psychological advantage, that three specialist bowlers must place a lot of pressure on the captain, and that Banks, a specialist spin bowler, would have provided some variety, there were times during Australia's innings that the West Indies bowling would only have been acceptable in a club match.
LACK OF CONFIDENCE
Could it be that the West Indies went in with only three bowlers because they lacked confidence in their batsmen?
Remembering that Banks was in the 12, that Bernard was not in it, and that Shivnarine Chanderpaul pulled out at the last minute, that may well have been the reason.
The West Indies, it appeared, were set to bring in Banks for Lawson, Ramnaresh Sarwan for Samuels, and they may well have only kept Samuels and brought in Bernard for Banks because, with Chanderpaul out and Sarwan just coming back, they were afraid for the batting.
That, however, cannot be an excuse for going into a Test match with three bowlers - not when it is remembered that bowlers win matches, and not with a batting line-up of Wavell Hinds - who has a topscore of 165, Devon Smith - who did quite well in his first Test, Ganga - who scored a century at Bourda, Lara - the prolific world recorder who also scored a century at Bourda, Samuels - whose talent cannot be questioned, and a wicketkeeper/batsman in Carlton Baugh Jnr.
It has been proven time and time again that the seventh batsman hardly ever makes a difference, that an attack short of its full compliment is usually exposed and destroyed, and for making a fundamental mistake in the selection of cricket team, even if they escape with a draw, the West Indies deserve the spanking as Australia dashed to 391 for three on the first day of a Test match and to 576 for four before declaring their innings closed before tea on the second day.
