Tony Becca
THE SECOND Test between the West Indies and New Zealand ended in Wellington yesterday with the Windies skidding to defeat, a result which means that they have already lost the three-match series.
But for victories against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, they have lost all their away series since 1995, and they have lost eight matches in a row for the first time in history.
Unlike the first Test which they lost by 27 runs after missing a number of opportunities to dominate the game and after sitting pretty on 148 without loss chasing a victory target of 291, the West Indies, after winning the toss and electing to bat, after facing an opposition short of their best bowler, and apart from two successive deliveries when Ian Bradshaw removed Hamish Marshall and Fidel Edwards bowled Jamie How with the scoreboard reading three runs for two wickets, were never in the second Test and lost by an embarrassing 10 wickets.
BATTED LIKE NOVICES
Apart from Runako Morton who scored 63 in the first innings, and Chris Gayle who scored 68 in the second, the batsmen of the West Indies batted like novices and got out like schoolboys.
Besides Edwards and Daren Powell, one of whom bowled accurately and with fire, one of whom bowled accurately most of the time, the bowlers of the West Indies, who did not swing more than one, two or three deliveries, who did not spin, really spin, more than a few deliveries, failed to maintain a good length and line and bowled like schoolboys. And apart from one great catch by wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, the West Indies in the field were ordinary.
On what was a good pitch for batting, the West Indies batsmen were like sitting ducks to the accuracy of Chris Martin and Kyle Mills, to the swing of left-hander John Franklyn, and to the legspin of left-hander Daniel Vettori - so much so that the majority of them, 18 out of 20 wickets, got out caught by the wicketkeeper, caught in the slips and caught at gully off the face of the bat, bowled and leg before wicket.
NOT BETTER THAN ORDINARY
With Daren Ganga, Morton, Dwayne Bravo and Ramdin short of quality - certainly at this stage of their careers - the biggest disappointments of all, and particularly so against an attack which, but for Vettori, is not much better than ordinary, were Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the team's top batsmen.
Respectively, they scored five and zero then 13 and 15 in the first match, then scored one and one, and eight and 36 in the second match. Lara, in both matches, in four innings, lasted a total of 23 deliveries.
While Chanderpaul's poor performances can be attributed to his ugly and awkward stance, a stance that has become worse and worse with every series, a stance that calls for more and more movement and which must make it more difficult for him the older he gets, the reason for Lara's poor performances could be something else altogether.
As one who does not play domestic cricket at home, as one who plays first-class cricket every now and again - sometimes one match a season, sometimes none at all, and as one who did not play in the one day internationals preceding the Test series, it could be that Lara is short of match practice.
SUDDENLY DIMINISHED
As one who, up to last year, ticked off scores of 196 and 176 against South Africa, 130 and 153 against Pakistan, and 226 against Australia in the eight matches he played, it cannot be that the great batsman is finished, that his skills have suddenly diminished.
Never before in the history of cricket has a batsman stood up to face a bowler as Chanderpaul does. Never before in the history of cricket has anyone been allowed to play at the highest level when he does not play at the lower levels.
Although there are those who defend as a man's style while saying that it is his style, now that he has not been scoring runs probably because of his style maybe someone, probably coach and chief selector Bennett King, should tell Chanderpaul to stand up properly or else.
Now that he seems to be out of sorts at the start of a series and to be searching for the ball, maybe someone, probably the same man, should also tell Lara, play cricket or else.
