Tony Becca
WEEKS BEFORE the start of the Test series between the West Indies and Pakistan, the feeling was that Pakistan, ranked number four in the LG ICC rankings, were too good for the number eight ranked West Indies and would win the contest easily. The odds, in fact, were heavily in favour of Pakistan.
When Pakistan arrived in the West Indies without top fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Sami, however, when it was known that two of their top batsmen, captain Inzamam ul-Haq and Shoaib Malik, were not eligible for the first of the two Test matches and that Yousuf Youhana, their second best batsman, had returned home before the start of the first Test and would not be back, things changed.
So much so, in fact, that the West Indies - Danish Kaneria or no Danish Kaneria - became the favourites.
After winning the first Test at Kensington Oval, however, and easily at that, the West Indies, then needing only a draw to win the series, lost the second Test at Sabina Park, and regardless of what captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul and coach Bennett King have said, cricket fans are still hurting and are still angry especially at one man.
According to Chanderpaul and King, the West Indies were up against it from the moment they lost the toss and Pakistan decided to bat first a decision which meant that the West Indies, barring a huge first innings total, would have to bat last on a pitch they believed, even then, would have been ideal for legspinner Kaneria.
DROP INZAMAM FIRST BALL
Not so, however, say the fans. According to them, the West Indies lost the Test match because of Courtney Browne the wicketkeeper who, with Pakistan, trailing the West Indies by 30 runs on first innings, with Pakistan on 119 for three after losing two wickets without scoring a run, dropped Inzamam first ball.
Had Browne taken that catch, Pakistan would have been 119 for four, they would have lost three wickets without scoring a run, and although one never knows what would have happened after that, chances are Pakistan would not have recovered.
As it turned out, Inzamam scored 117 not out as Pakistan recovered, left the West Indies 280 to win, and with Kaneria mesmerising the West Indies batsmen, won the match easily.
DROPPED
Since then, the fans have been calling for Browne's head, and although it is usually unfair to blame one man for a loss, such is Browne's history of dropping catches that have proven deadly for the West Indies that it is difficult not to blame him for this defeat. He definitely should be left out of the team for the series against Sri Lanka.
Without going back to Steve Waugh and Sabina Park in 1995, Browne was the wicketkeeper who dropped two vital catches one off Jacques Rudolph and one off Jacques Kallis who went on to score a century on the fifth morning of the first Test against South Africa when the West Indies missed a wonderful opportunity to win the Test match and settle for a draw.
Regardless of those who talk about wonderful hands and superb glovework, Browne dropped his fair share of catches during the two series, he was far from outstanding, and on top of that, apart from when he went to bat with the West Indies on 71 for six in the second innings against South Africa in the third Test at Kensington Oval and, with the match all but over, swung his bat and scored 68 off 75 deliveries, Browne has done nothing with the bat.
Carlton Baugh, the 23-year-old in whom the West Indies have invested, is certainly better with the bat, the 19-year-old Denesh Ramdin is certainly better with the gloves, and although it should be Baugh certainly based on the fact that he was groomed for the job, depending on what the West Indies are looking for, or should be looking for, one or the other must be a better bet than a 34-year-old non-performer who, for years and while a young man, was in and out of the team.
