Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
THE FOURTH and final Test of the Cable & Wireless Series between the West Indies and England which ended in a tame draw at the Antigua Recreation Ground on Wednesday will be remembered not only for a perfect batting pitch and Brian Lara's world record and historic 400 not out but also for two missed opportunities one by the West Indies and one by Ricardo Powell.
Going into the match three-down and fighting to prevent a first whitewash at home, the West Indies, thanks to Christopher Gayle who set the pace with a confident, stroke-filled innings of 69 that included 12 superbly struck boundaries, Lara's gem that lasted for 778 minutes, 582 deliveries and which included 43 fours and four sixes, Ramnaresh Sarwan's 90 and Ridley Jacob's 107 not out, amassed 751 for five declared and despite a pitch that remained ideal for batting to the end they should have won it - even though England confidently scored 422 for five in the final innings to save it.
Regardless of the pitch, and sometimes the quality of the bowling, huge scores always put so much pressure on the opposition that even with top-class batsmen in their line-up, they often crumble.
England should have fallen at the ARG, and one of the reasons they did not, the main reason why the game ended in a tame draw was because the Windies failed to grasp the opportunity presented to them.
DROPPED FOUR CATCHES
With England batting so well in their second innings, chances are the match would have ended in a draw regardless. It would have been interesting, however, to see how they would have reacted had they been dismissed for about 200 in their first innings early on the fourth day and the reason why they made as many as 285, the reason the innings lasted for as long as 35 minutes to tea, was because the West Indies dropped four catches including three off Andrew Flintoff, one at 27 on the third afternoon, one at 55 on the fourth morning, and one at 67.
They were all relatively easy catches and Flintoff went on to score 102 not out.
Based on a pitch that remained a batsman's friend, plus England's reply in the second innings, it may not have mattered. Pressure does all sorts of things to sportsmen, however, and despite the support of their fans, despite the support of the vast majority of the fans in the ground, England would have been under severe pressure had they been routed in the first innings and were left with a day and more than two sessions to survive.
Catches win matches and with Lara taking one at slip and then dropping the ball, with Powell muffing an easy one at gully and with bowler Pedro Collins flooring two that went straight back to him, the West Indies failed to take some simple ones.
The failure to catch was not the West Indies only problem, however. Another was the captaincy certainly as far as it related to the setting of the field.
At lunch on the fourth day, England, after scoring 60 runs and losing three wickets in the morning session, were 231 for eight off 82 overs.
PART-TIME SPINNER
They were trailing by 520 but instead of taking the second new ball after the interval, the West Indies, with four fast bowlers on call, not only continued with the part-time spin of Ryan Hinds, but also had the left-hander bowling to the right-handed Flintoff from over the wicket with six fielders on the leg side and with no one at slip or gully.
When the second new ball was finally taken, Fidel Edwards' field to Flintoff included a third man, backward point on the boundary, cover, long-off on the boundary, mid-on, backward square-leg on the boundary, and long-leg on the boundary.
The field placing was so defensive that had someone who knew nothing about what had gone on before had turned up at the match, he would have believed that the West Indies were under pressure to save the match and the series. He certainly would not have believed that the West Indies were on top, that they were leading by so many runs and that they wanted to win the match.
Apart from contributing to the dropped catches, Powell must be kicking himself, not for failing with the bat, but for the manner of his dismissal.
After being in the wilderness for so long, after getting a golden opportunity to bat on a batsman's paradise of a pitch and to prove that he is good enough to play Test cricket and not just one-day cricket, and with the score on 380 for three just after lunch on the second day, with Lara on 183 and attempting nothing extravagant, Powell slit his throat when he carelessly went to pull a delivery from way outside the offstump and skied a catch to Nasser Hussain on the third-man boundary.
It was an embarrassing way to get out and if he is not forgiven for it, if he finds himself back in the wilderness, he has no one to blame but himself.
