Tony Becca
THE WEST Indies ended their tour of Sri Lanka with a record of one victory and five losses in six matches, and in any language, that was a disappointing performance.
Remembering that 10 of their best players were absent, however, that cricket is all about batting, bowling, fielding and team spirit, that they did well in three of those, the West Indies performance was not too bad - certainly not when compared to the performance of the team in recent times and when it was at full strength.
Although they lost both Test matches, the West Indies gave Sri Lanka, at full strength, a run for their money. In fact, by dismissing Sri Lanka cheaply in both first innings, by knocking off their top order for a few runs on a number of occasions, the West Indies scared the daylights out of Sri Lanka.
On their last visit to Sri Lanka, the West Indies, at their best, never, not even once, challenged the hosts.
FLOODLIGHTS
Although they lost three of the four limited-overs matches - two to India and one to Sri Lanka, the West Indies, with two to go and needing to win both to qualify for the final, knocked off Sri Lanka, and then, batting under floodlights and chasing a victory target of 262, failed by just eight runs to beat India.
With the exception of a few good performances, the West Indies batting was disappointing. In fact, most times it was embarrassing.
The bowling, however, was good, the fielding, but for a few lapses in the final match, was brilliant, and the team spirit, the one-for-all, all-for-one spirit, was great.
What was really wonderful, however, was the character of the players.
Throughout the tour there was a fighting spirit that suggested the players were giving 100 per cent and more, and if and when the impasse between the Board and the Players Association is settled, if and when the 10 who refused the Board's invitation to tour Sri Lanka make themselves available, hopefully the Board will remember that.
ABSENT STARS
A look at the performance of the West Indies team in recent years shows that whenever the stars are absent, the team does reasonably well, most times better than when the stars are present, and with the stars including all but one of the region's best batsmen, and arguably the region's best bowlers, there must be a reason for that.
The reason must be the attitude of the stars - an attitude that suggests a lack of team spirit and a lack of committment to the game and to West Indies cricket.
In comparison to that kind of attitude, the youngsters, the fill-ins, always seem to give of their best, and along with the one or two senior players around them, they always seem to perform - as they did in the first Test against South Africa when, but for a dropped catch or two, they almost won the Test match.
The West Indies failed to win in Sri Lanka not because their bowlers were not good enough, not because their fielders were not good enough, and not because they did not give it their best shot.
Unlike when the stars are present, when they arrogantly play loose strokes and pay the penalty, when their bowlers leave the field at the slightest discomfort or for whatever other reason or reasons, and when they saunter around the field, sometimes holding up their hand and signalling to someone else to chase the ball, the West Indies failed to win simply because their batsmen were not good enough to perform, to survive, against the likes of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitheran.
If it were left to team spirit, to committment, the West Indies would have won handsomely, and the Board, through its selectors, should remember that.
RISING TO THE OCCASION
With bowlers Daren Powell, Tino Best, Deighton Butler, Jermaine Lawson and Omari Banks stepping in, rising to the occasion and showing that they are as good as, if not better than those who chose to stay home, with Denesh Ramdin showing great potential as a wicketkeeper and as a batsman, with those who agreed to go to Sri Lanka demonstrating the kind of team spirit and character which those who did not seldom do, it could and should be difficult for a number of those who turned their backs on West Indies cricket to get back into the team.
In fact, only a few of them, the best of the batsmen, should be allowed to walk back into the team - and only because the batting is so weak and winning, even though it should not be at all cost, is so important to West Indian people.
In order to win, however, good team spirit is as important if not more important than the presence of a few good batsmen or a great batsman, and from now on, that is what should be uppermost in the minds of the selectors whenever they meet to select a West Indies team.
