Tony Becca
WEST INDIES are riding high and justifiably so.
Going into the five-match Digicel one-day series against number-three ranked India as the underdogs, the number-eight ranked West Indies not only won the contest, but in doing so also kicked their butts.
After losing the first match, West Indies won the second, third, fourth and fifth to tick off a comprehensive 4-1 come-from-behind victory.
Although the loss dropped India down to number five in the LG ICC rankings and the victory was not good enough to even move West Indies up one place, the performance by West Indies deserves to be applauded - and for the simple reason that West Indies showed glimpses of being a good side.
After losing the first match off the penultimate delivery, West Indies, by winning the second by one run with two deliveries to go and the third off the penultimate delivery, showed not once but twice that although they may have forgotten it - and for a long time at that, they had not really lost the ability to win.
THE PRESSURE
Also, after surviving the pressure of those two matches to take a 2-1 lead, with India looking scared with each passing match, with West Indies looking more confident after each success, they sprinted to victory by winning the fourth match with a massive six overs to spare and then celebrated their series triumph by winning the fifth and final game with two overs to spare.
What was also interesting in the contest was the fact that although in one-day matches the number of wickets lost is not important, with the scoreboard reading: West Indies 251 for six off 45 overs and India 254 for five off 44.5 in the first match; West Indies 198 for nine off 50 overs and India 197 off 49.4 in the second match; India 245 for nine off 50 overs and West Indies 248 for six off 49.5 in the third match; India 217 for seven off 50 overs and West Indies 218 for four off 44 in the fourth match; and West Indies 255 for six off 50 overs and India 236 off 48 overs in the last match, but for the first match, West Indies lost fewer wickets than India.
The question is this: how come the West Indies played so well, or was it that India played below their best form?
BRAVO'S BRILLIANCE
Although India did not bat well and can be expected to bat better in the Test matches, the fact is that West Indies played well - and apart from the brilliance of Dwayne Bravo with bat, ball and in the field, they played well because their top four batsmen, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, all batted well at various times.
Additionally their bowlers, and especially their slow bowlers Gayle and Marlon Samuels, were far more consistent in line and length than in recent times, and particularly so because, apart form the first match, they were brilliant in the field.
Captain Lara also had something to do with the performance. As a captain who believes in trying things and in taking a gamble here and there he led the team well. He was busy in the field, he set an example in the field and he exuded confidence throughout the series.
In fact, on many occasions he gave the impression, based on his composure on the field, that he was leading the best team in the world.
It was a good series for Lara and maybe it was good because of his nature - because of his ability to back his assessment and his judgement of things.
Lara's use of his bowlers was sometimes puzzling but it worked almost every time. His fielding was sometimes unorthodox but it worked almost every time and hopefully those who are acclaiming him now will not chastise him too harshly in the future if and when the ball runs against him.
