Tony Becca - FROM THE BOUNDARYTHE CONSENSUS among fans watching the Test series between the West Indies and England is that while the visitors can match the homesters in batting, in the field they are schoolboys up against masters, and although they have not said so, although they keep talking about the skills of the England bowlers while criticising the West Indians, it probably all comes down to experience.
Although the England players in the two Test matches have a combined total of 350 matches and the West Indies 425, Brian Lara with 110, Shivnarine Chanderpaul with 78, Ridley Jacobs with 65 and Ramnaresh Sarwan with 48 account for more than half of the Windies total.
The important statistic, therefore, is not the overall experience of the teams but the experience of the bowlers and in terms of matches played, England, with 145, far out-number the West Indies with 78.
WI BOWLERS OUTNUMBERED
Experience, however, or the lack of it, is not only about the number of matches played. It is also about the number of overs bowled and without even looking at first-class cricket, England bowlers again far out-number the West Indies bowlers.
Looking at the England fast bowlers, up to the start of the series, Matthew Hoggard had bowled 1,038.2 overs in 29 matches, Andrew Flintoff 1,028 in 36, Steve Harmison 725.4 in 19, James Anderson 249.5 in eight, and Simon Jones 185 in seven with left-arm spinner Ashley Giles bowling 1,387 in 36.
In comparison to that, Pedro Collins of the West Indies had bowled 885.1 in 24 matches, Fidel Edwards 374.2 in 12, Corey Collymore 361 in 11, Jermaine Lawson 240.3 in eight, and Tino Best 179 in seven with offspinner Omari Banks bowling 265.1 in six.
Without even taking first-class cricket into consideration, that, without a doubt, confirms that one set of bowlers is far more experienced than the other and why, for example, opening batsman Chris Gayle has been allowed, up to the start of the action at Lord's, to bowl his gentle offspin for as many as 328.4 overs just a few less than Collymore who is second to Collins on the list of most overs bowled.
If maturity has anything to do with success with talent developing into skill, and if age has anything to do with maturity physically and mentally, then that may be another reason why the England bowlers look so much better than their West Indian counterparts why, wickets or no wickets, they consistently bowl a better line and a better length than the West Indians.
GOOD BUNCH OF YOUNGSTERS
Whereas Collins and Colly-more are 27 and 26 respectively, Best, Edwards, Lawson and Banks are all 22 and Dwayne Bravo is two years younger at 20, Giles is 31, Hoggard is 27, Flintoff is 26, Harmison is 25, and Jones is also 25.
"We've got a good bunch of youngsters," said captain Lara on Wednesday, "and the most im-portant thing is that they take away as much as possible from every game they play."
That is the hope of every West Indian that the young, talented West Indies bowlers are learning their trade day by day, that they will leave England better than when they arrived, that they will improve their skills and that they will be able to bowl well consistently and brilliantly at times so that they can really take on the world in another year or so, or at least by the time they get to 25 or so.
