POWELL
THE WEST Indies take on New Zealand in the second Test of their three-match series in Wellington today (Jamaica time) and after their disappointing performance in the first Test when, after hopping to 148 without loss, they were dismissed for 263 and lost by 27 runs, not even their most loyal fans are willing to bet a cent on them winning it.
Although they lost 10 wickets for 115 runs, however including their last seven for 52, even though their collapse was nothing new to West Indies cricket in recent times, the West Indies, thanks to their bowlers and the batting of Christopher Gayle and Daren Ganga, did match New Zealand for 3 1/2 half days, and if their batsmen, particularly Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, rise to the occasion, they can, once again with a little luck, win this Test match and level the series.
OPTIMISM
One reason for the optimism is that despite the presence of Stephen Fleming, Scott Styris and Nathan Astle, New Zealand's batting is far from impressive, and that, but for pacer Shane Bond and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori, their bowling is ordinary.
In other words, the West Indies attack, preferably a combination of pacers Fidel Edwards, Ian Bradshaw and Daren Powell and legspinner Rawl Lewis, should be good enough, once it is backed up by good fielding and catching, to limit New Zealand, as it did in the first Test, to scores below 300.
And even in the absence of the injured Ramnaresh Sarwan, a batting line-up of Gayle and Ganga, Runako Morton or Devon Smith, Lara, Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo, plus Denesh Ramdin, should also be good enough to deal with an attack which, but for Bond and Vettori, is short of quality.
Another reason for the optimism, however, is that the Test match will be played in Wellington the ground on which the West Indies have scored five centuries to New Zealand's three. The ground on which, with James Adams scoring 151, Lara 147, and Junior Murray 101 not out, with pacer Courtney Walsh pocketing seven for 37 and six for 18, and with legspinner Rajendra Dhanraj taking two wickets in each innings, the West Indies, in 1995, scored 660 for five declared, dismissed the home team for 216 and 122, and won by an impressive innings and 322 runs.
INSPIRATION
Eleven years is a long time, but despite the disappointment of the collapse, after getting so close in Auckland, after looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, and with the memory of 1995 to inspire them, the West Indies must be, or should be, confident of doing well in Wellington.
For the West Indies to win the Test match, however, they will have to select a full complement of bowlers and they will have to bowl as well, as consistently, as they did in Auckland.
They will also have to catch better than they did in Auckland, they will have to emulate the batting and determination of Gayle and Ganga in the second innings in Auckland and to do that in Wellington, it must be, from beginning to end, all for one and one for all.
