Tont BeccaTHERE IS an old saying in Jamaica: "bad luck worse than obeah".
As far as the members of the West Indies team and their fans are concerned, after what happened in Brisbane on Friday there is no doubt about it.
After suffering crushing defeats in their first two matches in the VB triangular series one to Australia who won by 116 runs and one to Pakistan who won with six wickets in hand and three overs to spare, the West Indies were set to hand the mighty Australia a thrashing second to none when the gods interfered and robbed them of victory.
RISING TO THE OCCASION
With Australia two from two after following up their victory over the West Indies with an equally easy one over Pakistan, bubbling with confidence and expected to tick off victory No. 3 against a team that had lost both their matches, the West Indies, and particularly so their bowlers, rose to the occasion and must be cursing their luck.
Led by a century innings by Wavell Hinds, the West Indies posted 263 for nine off their allotted 50 overs, and although such a total is usually good enough for a fight, not many believed it would have been good enough not after the
performance of their bowlers in the first two matches and
certainly not against Australia and the likes of Adam
Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke and Darren Lehman.
In a wonderful performance, however, the West Indies, led by left-arm swing bowlers Pedro Collins and Ian Bradshaw, struck two early blows, had Australia reeling at 12 for two off five overs when rain sent the players off the field, and when they returned after 140 minutes with Australia, according to Duckworth/Lewis, then needing another 183 to win off 23 overs, they struck three times again before the rain returned and ruined the match with the home team reeling at 43 for five off 11 overs.
OUT OF THE GAME
With Australia in a spin and needing another 152 off 17 overs to win, it was obvious that the home team was out of it, and that is why the West Indies, particularly so their bowlers and more so Collins, must be really disappointed.
Bowling as well as he has ever done, Collins removed Hayden brilliantly caught by Chris Gayle at slip at eight for one, and after Bradshaw had made it 12 for two when he had Gilchrist caught by wicketkeeper Browne, after the rain delay, Collins, swinging the ball both ways and dropping it on a good length, made it 24 for three and 24 for four in the seventh over when he trapped Ponting leg before with a delivery that came back into the right-hander and then removed Symonds, caught by Browne, with a delivery that swung away from the right-hander after pitching middle and off.
With Lara, driving and given out caught by wicketkeeper Gilchrist at 92 for three in the 23rd over when the ball, according to television replays, was not even close to the bat, it was a bad day for the West Indies.
As bad, as disappointing as it was, however, it was a day that must have left the West Indies, and their fans, feeling that they are still in the hunt and that Australia, as good as they are, are not invincible.
It certainly must have lifted the West Indies morale as they look toward the next match against Australia in Adelaide on Wednesday.
Dwayne Bravo, the all-rounder who replaced batsman Ricardo Powell, who replaced batsman Xavier Marshall, did not bowl even one ball. Batting at No. 7, however, he did score some runs more than the
combined total of Marshall and Powell in the first two matches, as the fourth seamer, he was available to support Collins, Bradshaw and Mervyn Dillon, and because of that, it was also a day that could lead to the
selection of a West Indies team that is balanced, a team that does not put the burden of winning entirely on the batsmen, and which, therefore, is better able to compete.
CONFIDENT
Unlike when they played an unbalanced team a team with seven batsmen and only three specialist bowlers and gave the impression that they were afraid, that they had no confidence in their bowling and therefore had to play as many batsmen as possible, the West Indies looked confident this time around, and while there could be another reason for that, one may well be that by playing one less batsman and one more bowler, the selectors, for a change, demonstrated their confidence in the six top batsmen and also in their bowlers.
The gods were unkind to the West Indies and because of that it was a bad day for them.
When it comes to the selection of the West Indies team,
however, when it comes to confidence, it was a good day. It was a day that must have or should have convinced the West Indies that there is no need for seven specialist batsmen not when none of the six are really good bowlers, and certainly not when, this last match apart, the attack has been everyone's beating stick and needs as much help as it can get.
