By Tony Becca - From The Boundary 
THE FIRST Test between the West Indies and Sri Lanka which ended in St. Lucia yesterday was destroyed by rain and, for the West Indies, that must have been very disappointing.
One never knows what will happen from one day to another in cricket and, despite being in a good position, the West Indies could have collapsed, lost the match and gone down one-nil in the two-match contest.
The fact, however, is that at 272 for four replying to Sri Lanka's 354, with captain Brian Lara on 93 not out and Marlon Samuels looking good, when the rain came shortly after lunch on the third day, the West Indies were going well and in such a wonderful position that victory was possible.
With half the match still to go, the West Indies were only 82 runs behind and although they would have batted last, they had six wickets in hand, Lara and Samuels were batting, they could have chalked up a reasonable lead, and if that had happened, Sri Lanka would have been under pressure and the West Indies would have had a good chance of snatching victory.
Rain, however, is part of the game. Sometimes it works in one team's favour, sometimes it works in the other team's favour and, as it did this time around, sometimes it simply spoils a good contest.
As disappointed as they must be, however, the West Indies did enough before the rain to be pleased with their performance and to look forward to the second Test with confidence.
Going into the game, the West Indies were underdogs - and they were underdogs for these reasons. Sri Lanka were at number four in the rankings and they were at number eight; their bowling was considered weak and likely to be easy pickings for Sri Lanka's exciting batsmen; and as good as their batting has suggested it is, there was a fear that apart from Lara, their batsmen would have trouble coping with the skill of left-arm swing bowler Chaminda Vaas and offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
With Corey Collymore, so promising when he came on to the scene four years ago, leading the way, however, the West Indies bowled well - so well that after Sri Lanka had got away to a rousing start, they recovered to the extent that Sri Lanka's batsmen became strokeless to the point of boredom.
What was really encouraging, however, was the performance of their batsmen - and particularly the performance of Wavell Hinds.
With Vaas picking up off Daren Ganga - leg before wicket for 12 at 18 for one, and Muralitharan removing Chris Gayle in his second over - leg before wicket for 27 at 66 for two, it appeared that the fear was justified.
Hinds and Lara, however, took charge, and with Hinds going by the run out route and not as a victim of either Vaas or Muralitharan, with Ramnaresh Sarwan falling caught after the ball had hit the ground, when the rain came the West Indies were on top with Vaas's figures reading one for 62 off 24 overs - most of them defensively bowled, and Muralitharan's two for 92 off 25.
Lara was good - no question about that. The one who was really impressive, however, was Hinds.
Going to bat after the dismissal of Ganga, Hinds smashed 113, including six fours and four sixes, before he was run out at 240 for three.
Batting like one who fears no one and like a man on a mission, Hinds went at the bowlers - his sixes including two early off Muralitharan.
Because of rain, there was not enough time for the West Indies to press for victory. There was enough, however, to parade their skills and to convince their fans that they can also play well before a series has been decided, that Antigua a few weeks ago was not a dream, and that Vaas or no Vaas, Muralitharan or no Muralitharan, they can win this series.
