Tony Becca - FROM THE BOUNDARY THE SECOND Test of the four-match series between the West Indies and South Africa opens at Kingsmead in Durban on Boxing Day and with the home team one-up after their triumph in Johannesburg, victory, or a draw, is a must for the visitors if they hope to have a chance of winning the series.
The odds, however, are stacked against the West Indies who need to be at full strength to have a chance but are likely to be without opening batsman Christopher Gayle and pace bowler Corey Collymore who are suffering from injuries.
While the absence of Collymore should not make any difference to an already weak bowling attack and in fact could be a blessing in disguise if left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed is selected to fill the vacancy, the absence of Gayle could affect the West Indies chance of winning the match or, with the bowling unlikely to dismiss South Africa twice, of drawing it.
Such is the skill of Shaun Pollock, the skill and pace of Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel, and because of his poor footwork, such is Gayle's weakness to quality fast bowlers with a new ball between their fingers that it would not be surprising if he falls early.
Gayle is a performer, however, there is always the possibility that he will get going and if he gets going, such is the power of the big lefthander that he could hand the West Indies a glorious start and in doing so, soften up Pollock, Ntini, Nel and company for his colleagues.
Gayle is not a Brian Lara, and he is not a Shivnarine Chanderpaul. With him in the team, however, the West Indies have a chance of at least drawing the match and despite the odds against it, captain Lara and his men must be praying that he will be fit for the contest - particularly as his replacement will not be Marlon Samuels, who is home nursing his injured knee, but the inexperienced Dwayne Smith, or probably, just probably, reserve wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh Jnr.
Looking at both teams, South Africa, especially with batsman Gary Kirsten and left-arm spinner Paul Adams back in the team, must be favourites to defeat the West Indies - Gayle or no Gayle.
The West Indies, however, are not without hope.
Although they were beaten by nine wickets in the third Test after falling for 198 on the opening day with Daren Ganga batting for two hours and scoring 28 on his debut and with Jacques Kallis (3-18), David Terbrugge (2-39) and captain Hansie Cronje (3-19) doing the damage, Durban was the scene of two of the West Indies best performances in 1998-99 one by fast bowler Franklyn Rose and the other, a glorious third-wicket partnership between Lara and Chanderpaul.
In his best performance for the West Indies and the best by any overseas bowler at Kingsmead, Rose, playing in his only match of the series after being left out of the first two and then suffering an injury, picked up 7-84 to limit the home team to 312, and with a lead of 114, with the West Indies falling at 41 for two, Lara, 79, and Chanderpaul, 75, posted 160 for the third wicket.
It was easily the best batting by the West Indies throughout the series, and it was a stroke-filled exhibition of West Indies-type batting. Both batsmen played so well that at one stage it appeared that the West Indies were in with a chance of winning the game - or at least drawing it.
After tea, however, Lara and Chanderpaul went in successive overs on the same score. Lara, hooking at Terbrugge, was brilliantly caught by Herschelle Gibbs flying to his left at short square-leg, and in the over in which the floodlights were turned on, Chanderpaul drove a return catch to Pollock.
From 201 for two it was 201 for four, and when, in the following over from Pollock, Carl Hooper cut at the pacer, nicked the ball past his stumps and walked away without waiting on the umpire to answer wicketkeeper Mark Boucher's appeal for a low catch, it was 204 for five and the end was in sight.
That was the match that handed South Africa a winning 3-0 lead and sent them on the way to their 5-0 victory, this is the match that the West Indies have to win or draw if they hope to enjoy the revenge they are seeking, and Gayle or no Gayle, a lot will depend on Lara and Chanderpaul.
As the two most experienced batsmen on the team, however, as the best batsmen on the team, Lara and Chanderpaul will have to do more than bat as well as they did on December 28, 1998. Unless something surprising happens in Durban, for the West Indies not to fall again, they also will have to go on to big scores.
