Tony Becca
WHOEVER BELIEVED that West Indians, and more so Jamaicans, had lost faith in the West Indies cricket team, or had become so fed up that they could not care less whether they won or lost, had better change their mind.
Based on the reaction of the fans at Kensington Oval and at Melbourne Oval on Sunday as the West Indies closed in on victory, they still love the West Indies team and the fortunes of the West Indies team still mean a lot to them.
Going into the Test match, there was a feeling that the West Indies could defeat a Pakistan team that, as brilliant as it can be, has a history of slitting its own throat.
On top of that, they were without, not only fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Sami, but also and more so without batsmen Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana and Shoaib Malik.
INCAPABLE
Such were the recent performances of the West Indies, however, including a one-day loss by one run after losing their last three wickets in three deliveries, that they seemed incapable of winning, so much so that even those with the faith of Job, even those who believed that it could happen, were scared of saying so.
After all the licks, they were not prepared to be so brave as to back the West Indies.
After winning the toss and deciding to bat, however, the West Indies posted 345, they routed Pakistan for 144, scored 371, and then nailed the visitors for 296 to win by 276 runs with over a day and a half to spare.
It was an emphatic victory, and the sight of the fans at Kensington Oval, the rush to the television set in the Melbourne bar when Shahid Afridi was dismissed, and the celebration when last man Danish Kaneria attempted to drive Christopher Gayle and edged a catch to wicketkeeper Courtney Browne, was fantastic.
It was as if something special had happened, so much so that unlike the matches against South Africa, unlike the three one-day matches against Pakistan when all the players, at least most of them, were "no good" and should be dropped, all the players, every single one of them, were stars.
The mood of the fans was such that even those who had lost faith, those who had vowed never ever again to waste time watching the West Indies, were telling the world that they knew all along that the West Indies were good, that they were good enough to defeat Pakistan, that they would have won the match, and that they were also going to win the second and final Test, Inzamam or no Inzamam, Youhana or no Youhana, Malik or no Malik.
THE CORNER
What so far is so good is that no one in the leadership of West Indies cricket and the team not one member of the management team or a selector has yet said, or has been reported to have said that the team has turned the corner.
That is good sense, for as wonderful a victory as it was, it should be remembered that although so many of Pakistan's top players were absent it was the brilliant batting of Brian Lara, in both innings, and the solid, rock-like batting of captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in both innings, that set up the victory.
Having said that, however, the fans who are back on board should also say a wonderful thank you to captain Chanderpaul, to most of the fielders, and also and more so to pacers Fidel Edwards and Corey Collymore who all did a wonderful job.
Christopher Gayle took five wickets in Pakistan's second innings, but after the rescue act of Lara and Chanderpaul in the West Indies first innings, the match, as a contest, was over after Edwards' brilliance with the ball in Pakistan's first innings, after Collymore's support with the ball in Pakistan's first innings, and when Chanderpaul, with over three days to go, decided not to enforce the follow-on.
