Tony Becca - FROM THE BOUNDARY
THERE IS a proverb that says 'All is well that ends well'. It goes back to the 14th century and despite their early disappointments during the Test and one-day series between the West Indies and Zimbabwe, cricket fans around the region are happy, or at least fairly happy, that the West Indies won both contests.
There are some, however, who believe that sometimes, certainly when playing against certain teams, all is not well that ends well and who are far from happy and are simply breathing a sigh of relief that the West Indies, who should be twice as good as Zimbabwe, were not defeated by a side like Zimbabwe.
Going to Zimbabwe the West Indies were expected to win easily. In fact, it was supposed to be a warm-up for tough South Africa.
As it turned out, however, it was a dogfight and the West Indies only triumphed one-nil in the Test series after escaping with a draw in the first Test when they appeared all set to lose it; after tumbling for 128 in the second innings and leaving Zimbabwe 233 to win the second Test and recovering to win it; and after trailing one-two in the one-day series and hitting back to win the last two.
BRILLIANT FINISH
It was that close and despite the brilliant finish that saw the West Indies rising to the occasion and nailing Zimbabwe in the last two one-day matches, despite all the smiles and all the celebrations at the end, the West Indies, certainly captain Brian Lara and coaches Gus Logie and Kenneth Benjamin, must be concerned as they move on to South Africa where they will now take on, not the team ranked number nine in Tests, but the one ranked number two.
Although there were a few wonderful performances by Lara, once in the Test matches and once in the one-dayers; by Wavell Hinds, a couple of times in the Test matches and once in the one-dayers; and by Chris Gayle, - three times in the one-dayers, the West Indies batting was pathetic.
The bowling, but for Fidel Edwards, was ordinary. In fact the performance, the plodding and blocking, the groping and pushing of the batsmen against left-arm spinner Ray Price and the strokes that led to the dismissal of some of them were embarrassing, so embarrassing that at times they looked like nervous schoolboys playing with big men.
And the bowling, again but for Edwards, and to an extent Jerome Taylor, was no better. As far as the basics of bowling a good length and line were concerned, the bowlers, most times, also looked like schoolboys.
POOR TECHNIQUE
Looking at the batsmen, one reason was the poor technique of some of them; one reason, it appeared, was arrogance - a careless, reckless approach; another reason was the inability to build an innings; and remembering that a batsman, a good batsman, can attack without being careless or reckless, that depending on the state of the game and one's own form, there is a time to attack and a time to be careful but without surrendering. One reason was that they played themselves into such a hole and became so defensive that they stifled themselves and then committed suicide in an effort to break lose.
In a nutshell, the problem of the West Indies batsmen, certainly against Price, may well have been that they were too defensive and that always spells trouble - not only for batsmen in general, but also, and more so, for West Indian batsmen who are natural stroke players, whose style is to attack, and who are best on the attack.
In winning the second Test match and thus that series, the West Indies owed a lot to a brilliant, attacking innings by Lara, and in coming back and winning the fourth and fifth matches and thus the one-day series, the West Indies owed a lot to three brilliant, attacking innings - one by Gayle, one by Hinds, and one again by Gayle.
All three batsmen went about batting the way they are accustomed to bat, they batted like West Indians, they backed their skill and their power, and in that respect and as far as preparing for South Africa is concerned, all may be well that ends well.
