Tony Becca - FROM THE BOUNDARY THE WEST Indies went down to a crushing innings and 65-run defeat to South Africa at Kingsmead in Durban yesterday.
They now trail two-nil in the four-match series and the way things are looking, they will have to come good, very good, to avoid another whitewash.
In a match dominated by South Africa from start to finish, the West Indies' weakness in every department of the game was once again exposed.
In the batting department, their poor technique, particularly to the moving ball, was exposed to the extent that they were reeling at 17 for four and 50 for five on the opening morning.
In the bowling department, their lack of real pace, skill, inability to bowl the ball consistently on a good length or to swing it was exposed to the extent that South Africa's batsmen, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis and Gary Kirsten, hooked and cut with ease and in general, treated them like schoolboys in a big man's game.
In the field the weakness was exposed by the dropping of six fairly simple catches on the third day.
The weakness, in fact, went beyond their skill with the bat, the ball and in the field. The weakness included their approach to the game - an approach that was unprofessional and immature and that was certainly evident at the start of both the West Indies' first and second innings.
UNPREPARED TO BAT
In the first innings, Ramnaresh Sarwan was so unprepared to bat that when Wavell Hinds was dismissed, the number three batsman, the vice-captain, was not only late in leaving the dressing room, he was still strapping on his pads when he arrived on the field.
In the second innings, with the West Indies trailing by 394 runs, with only 10 overs to go to the end of the day's play and with two days to go in the match, Daren Ganga was nearly run out twice - once when the batsmen went for a cheeky single off the first delivery, and once when the batsmen went for a quick single in the fifth over.
In a performance best forgotten, the only things on the plus side were the batting of Brian Lara, Ridley Jacobs and Vasbert Drakes in the first innings when the West Indies appeared set to really embarrass themselves, and the batting of Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the second innings.
The West Indies must also have spent last night wondering why fate has been so unkind to them - why injury had to rob them of pacer Jerome Taylor, offspinner Omari Banks and batsman Marlon Samuels, and reduced batsman Christopher Gayle's participation in the first Test, forced Gayle and pacer Corey Collymore out of the second Test, and as if that was not enough, why it also reduced Chanderpaul to batting at number seven in the second innings.
They should also have wondered, however, why they were so unkind to themselves.
As unkind as fate has been to the West Indies, injury was probably not the only reason for the West Indies performance.
Although it may not have mattered, the selection of the team was probably another reason, and somewhere during the night, captain Lara and his co-selectors must also have had second thoughts as far as that is concerned.
NOT MIRACLE WORKERS
Selectors are not miracle workers, they cannot turn ordinary bowlers into great bowlers, and neither can they transform talented batsmen into great batsmen. However, they can select the best from what they have. That should be their intention and if that was it, it is difficult to see how they came up with the 11 for the Test match.
It is difficult to see how they could have selected Carlton Baugh Jnr as a batsman and not Dwayne Smith - not when it is remembered that just a few months ago Baugh batted at number eight or number nine for Jamaica and that Smith, called in to replace Samuels, batted at number three for Barbados.
It is difficult to see how, after what happened in Zimbabwe, after what happened in the first Test, and based on what they have to choose from, they could have selected four pace bowlers and left out left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed.
Even if they are blinkered and wanted four pace bowlers regardless of their skill or the lack of it, even if they feel that the West Indies cannot play without Mervyn Dillon, it is difficult to see how they selected Adam Sanford and left out Ravi Rampaul.
The selection of Smith and Mohammed, or Smith, Mohammed and Rampaul may not have made a difference. In fact, chances are it would not have made a difference.
Baugh, however, simply is not yet good enough to play in a Test team as a batsman, and although he too may not be ready, although Ricardo Powell or Floyd Reifer would have been a better choice as the replacement for Samuels, having selected Smith as the reserve batsman, he should have been selected ahead of Baugh who, not surprisingly, looked out of place.
As far as Mohammed is concerned, it just seems strange that he, a good wrist spinner, can be sitting in the pavilion while three average pace bowlers and Fidel Edwards make up the attack and while Sarwan and Daren Ganga are bowling spin for the West Indies.
