SMITH
MELBOURNE, Australia, CMC
NOT EVEN weather conditions, sights, and sounds more in keeping with their homelands than the land Down Under could inspire the West Indies on a day that first saw them trail on first innings to the Victorian Bushrangers by 269 runs in their drawn three-day Tour match.
They then lost a hastily arranged Twenty20 match by four wickets with three balls to spare to the same opponents on Sunday (Saturday night Caribbean time) at Junction Oval.
The best weather of the scheduled three-day fixture proved ideal for a Carnival-style celebration at the ground, with leading members of the immigrant West Indian community in Melbourne and the state of Victoria mobilising all with Caribbean roots and connections to celebrate the island flavour, as part of the build-up to the Commonwealth Games in March next year in this city.
Yet the presence of hundreds of West Indians and their families, a resident deejay providing the music between breaks in play, and a gloriously sunny day seemed to have no positive impact on Shivnarine Chanderpaul's squad, as they were eventually dismissed in their first innings for 302.
PREMATURE END
Mindful of the best crowd and the best weather of the three days, the Bushrangers got the support of the visitors in abandoning the rest of the match as a draw, so as to provide some more attractive cricket for the spectators, many of whom had travelled hundreds of miles to enjoy the atmosphere of the day. The West Indies captain's laborious innings of 59 was in sharp contrast to the bubbly atmosphere around the ground from the start of the day.
Resuming in partnership with Dwayne Smith at 144 for four, in reply to the Bushrangers' first innings total of 571, the stodgy left-hander with the highly peculiar square-on stance plodded along for 269 minutes, facing 177 balls and striking just three fours before he was caught behind off fast-medium bowler Mick Lewis half-an-hour after lunch in the fourth over with the second new ball.
Burdened by the worries of captaincy and his obvious inability so far to get his team to play consistently to its potential, Chanderpaul seemed to be in a world of his own in the middle, content just to occupy the crease in the hope that a lengthy innings would bring back the confidence so necessary for his own game and his critical role as leader ahead of the second Test against Australia, beginning on Thursday (Wednesday night Caribbean Time) in Hobart.
He put on 71 for the fifth wicket with Smith, who struck two fours and two sixes in reaching 40 before being bowled by Victoria captain and leg-spinner Cameron White attempting another big hit 45 minutes into the final morning.
Dwayne Bravo stroked his way to 25 before being adjudged lbw to Allan Wise, while Denesh Ramdin failed again, the left-arm seamer claiming his second wicket in the matter of a few minutes when the West Indies wicketkeeper touched a catch to his opposite number, Adam Crosthwaite.
Chanderpaul's demise in the early afternoon left the West Indies at 269 for eight, and although it was inevitable that the visitors would get nowhere close to avoiding the follow-on target, there was still a modicum of encouragement in seeing Tino Best, Fidel Edwards and Jermaine Lawson attempting to defy the bowlers for some time.
Best's 16 runs spanned 105 minutes before he gave Crosthwaite another catch off Jonathan Moss, while Edwards' seven not out lasted all of 76 minutes.
Lawson, who was probably ruled out of the second Test even before back soreness prevented him from bowling through much of the second day, also exhibited some resistance in surviving for half-an-hour before the very occasional bowling of David Hussey ended his effort and the innings.
Peeved at their offer to open up the match on the first day had been spurned by the West Indies, the Victorians could have remained spiteful and either enforced the follow-on or bat a second time to ensure a dreary end to the fixture.
CRASH-BANG EXERCISE
That both sides saw it fit to provide some entertainment for the fans who turned up was commendable, even if the visitors would have hardly benefited from the crash-bang exercise.
Dwayne Smith slammed 81 off 40 balls with six sixes and three fours in an unbroken seventh-wicket partnership of 80 with Ramdin (30 not out) that lifted the West Indies from a relatively shaky 92 for six to a competitive 172 without further loss.
Though, like their opponents, they would not have had much exposure to Twenty20 cricket, the Bushrangers paced their chase well and with Lloyd Mash crashing four sixes off Bravo in the 15th over, the victory in the final over made the match appear closer than it was.
Bravo finished with three wickets, but Mash's 32 and White's unbeaten 27 ensured there was to be no last-minute panic by the home team, leaving the West Indies to trudge back into the dressing room or seek solace and reassurance from their many supporters who remained to the end.
Their presence and unflinching loyalty to the team should have brought home the message to the current crop of West Indies crickets as to how much the fortunes of the regional side mean to so many people from such diverse backgrounds.
Yet even if that realisation was somehow instantaneous, it would still seem to be too late to make a difference in the last
two Tests of another acutely
disappointing tour.
VICTORIA 1st Innings 571
(B. Hodge 177, D. Hussey 104)
WEST INDIES 1st Innings
(overnight 144 for four)
D.S. Smith c Klinger b Siddle - 34
C. Gayle c wkpr Crosthwaite b Wise - 17
R. Sarwan c Klinger b Lewis - 10
M. Samuels c Lewis b *White - 50
*S. Chanderpaul c wkpr
Crosthwaite b Lewis - 59
D.R. Smith b White - 40
D. Bravo lbw b Wise - 25
+D. Ramdin c wkpr Crosthwaite
b Wise - 5
T. Best c Wise b Moss - 16
F. Edwards not out - 7
J. Lawson c Lewis b Hussey - 11
Extras (b5, lb13, w1, nb9) - 28
TOTAL (all out) - 302
Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-53, 3-68, 4-131, 5-202, 6-244, 7-250, 8-269, 9-287.
Bowling: Lewis 20-4-57-2 (nb5); Wise 25-9-47-3; Siddle 18-2-68-1 (nb4); *White 23-5-78-2 (w1); Moss 14-5-33-1; Hussey 1.2-0-1-1.
Result: Match drawn.
Umpires: G. Morrow, A. Ward.
