By Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
West Indies captain Brian Lara bats the ball to teammates while practising their fielding at Kensington Oval in Barbados yesterday. The West Indies meet England in the third of four Tests today.
THE THIRD Test of the four-match Cable & Wireless Series between the West Indies and England opens at Kensington Oval today.
The Windies are trailing by two and the Brits are leading by two, even though one cannot win the series and one cannot lose it, the atmosphere around Bridgetown on the eve of the contest is similar to that of a showdown.
In order to guarantee that they end up winners and in a position to celebrate their first victory in the Caribbean since 1968, England have to win or draw.
In order to have a chance of sharing the honours and protecting their cherished 36-year unbeaten record, the West Indies have to win, and with both teams gunning for victory and one desperately so, that is one reason why the fans of both sides expect nothing but the best from their team and why they are expecting a battle royale between a team fighting for glory and one battling for survival.
ROUTED FOR 47
As well as England, winners by 10 wickets at Sabina Park and by seven wickets at Queen's Park Oval, have played so far, and as disappointingly as the West Indies, routed for 47 in Kingston and dismissed for 208 and 209 in Port of Spain, have been, another reason for the expectation of a close and exciting contest is the consensus that there is not much, if anything, between the two teams and if the home team's batsmen get going and particularly so captain Brian Lara and Chris Gayle, it could be fireworks in Fontabelle.
Another reason is that the match is being played at Kensington Oval - for a long, long time the happy hunting ground of the West Indies.
For 59 years, between 1935 and 1994, the West Indies did not lose a match at Kensington, and although they lost to England in 1994, Australia in 1995, New Zealand in 2001 and Australia again last year, West Indian fans, Barbadian fans, believe that it is still the lion's den for the visitors and that it will be so over the next five days - especially as, unlike last year when it was bare and slow, there is a fair amount of grass on the pitch and that curator 'Prof' Edwards, the former Barbados and West Indies fast bowler, promised that it will be fast, that the ball will move off the seam, and that it will bounce appreciably.
For the first time since 1984 when Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Wayne Daniel and Milton Small formed the attack against Australia at Queen's Park Oval, the West Indies attack will be led by four Barbadians - fast bowlers Tino Best, Corey Collymore, Pedro Collins and Fidel Edwards, and that is the big reason why Bajans believe not only that England have a fight on their hands, not only that it will be a lovely contest, but that the home team will rise to the occasion and knock off England.
"The England batsmen going to get some pace in their face tomorrow," said one of the ecstatic Bajan fans yesterday morning while watching the West Indies tune up in brilliant sunshine under interim manager Tony Howard. "This is the best of Barbados, and most times, the best of Barbados is the best of the West Indies."
Can the Windies, parading two brothers, Collins and Edwards, in the West Indies team for only the third time since Jackie and Rolph Grant against England in 1935 and Dennis and Eric Atkinson against Pakistan in 1958, rise up and justify the faith of their fans?
That will not be easy - not against a team that is well drilled, well focused and looking for glory.
Not against a team that, with captain Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe, boasts a set of batsmen who are prepared to fight, not against a team with an all-rounder like Andrew Flintoff, not against a trio of pace bowlers like Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard.
Also, not against a team that with the presence of left-arm spinner Ashley Giles is prepared for any eventuality, and not against a team that is so good in the field.
Although they have failed to fire so far, however, the West Indies are dangerous. With Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan in their line-up, the West Indies possess one great batsman, one explosive batsman, one attractive batsman and a fighter.
With Best and Edwards present, they have two really fast bowlers, in the left-handed Collins, they now have, on his day, a good swing bowler, and with Daren Ganga - expected to replace the injured Devon Smith, with Ridley Jacobs plus one of Dwayne Smith or Ryan Hinds to back up Lara and company and the accurate Collymore to support Best and company, no one should bet against them - certainly not at Kensington Oval.
