Tony Becca

The West Indies begin their five-match one-day contest against Pakistan in Rawalpindi today and although they lost the three-match Test series 2-0, even though they lost all three matches in the West Indies in 2005 when the teams last met, and although they are ranked number seven and Pakistan are at number three, even though they will be without batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo the Windies, certainly their captain and their manager, are confident of victory.

The West Indies are confident for the simple reason that over the past few months they have done well in one-day cricket.

After defeating India 4-1, the West Indies went to the DFL Cup in Malaysia where, after losing to Australia and defeating India, after defeating Australia and losing to India, they got to the final where they lost to Australia.

After that, the West Indies went to India for the ICC Champions Trophy where, after defeating Australia and India, after losing to England and defeating South Africa, they once again got to the final where they again lost to Australia.

Statistics

In comparison to the West Indies' performance, Pakistan drew 2-2 with England in England, and after defeating Sri Lanka in the ICC Champions Trophy, they lost to New Zealand and South Africa and failed to make it to the semi-finals.

Those statistics are certainly in favour of the West Indies, and with Chris Gayle ranked number two on the list of one-day batsmen, with Ian Bradshaw ranked number three on the list of one-day bowlers, with Gayle ranked number one on the list of one-day all-rounders, and with Pakistan having two all-rounders in the top 10, but no one among the top batsmen or bowlers, so too, despite the absence of Sarwan who is ranked at number eight on the list of batsmen, do the statistics of individual players.

There are three other reasons why the West Indies are expected to really challenge, if not, defeat Pakistan.

The first reason is the presence of batsmen like Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brian Lara, the second reason is the presence of bowlers like Bradshaw, Jerome Taylor and Corey Collymore, and the third is the fact that because it is a shortened version of the game, because it lasts for only 50 overs a side, one-day cricket lessens the gap between teams.

There is no doubt about it, despite the absence of one like Shoaib Akhtar and the out-of-form Shahid Afridi, despite the absence for the first match of captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan, with batsmen like Mohammad Yousuf andYounis Khan, Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed, plus the all-rounders Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq and Abdur Rehman, and with bowlers like pacers Umar Gul and Mohammed Sami and right-arm leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, are better than the West Indies - as they proved in the Test series when they defeated the West Indies by nine wickets and by 199 runs.

Speaking shortly after the Test series was over, captain Lara said he was proud of the players' performance and hopefully, in saying so, he simply did not wish, as the captain, to hurt the players' feelings and was only being diplomatic.

Flicker

But for a flicker here and there, but for a good performance here and there, but for Lara's batting in the first two matches, but for the batting of Gayle, Ganga and Bravo in the second Test, but for the batting of Ganga in the first innings of the third Test, and but for their bowling on the second day of the second Test and on the first day of the third Test, the majority of the West Indies batsmen and bowlers, playing on pitches which saw Yousuf reeling off scores of 192, 56 and 191, 102 and 124 while scoring 665 runs with four centuries in five innings at an average of 133, in conditions which saw Gul, Shahid Nazir and Razzaq swinging and cutting the ball appreciably, and on pitches which saw Kaneria spinning the ball viciously, performed like apprentices.

In the field where they were brilliant on one or two occasions, there was no difference in their performance.

The West Indies can take back something from Pakistan as the one-day series presents them with a chance to redeem themselves.

Apart from bowling a tight, consistent line, however, apart from fielding brilliantly most times and not every now and again, to do that, their batsmen will have to get rid of the habit of playing across the line so often.

On slow pitches, like those in Pakistan, that is a recipe for disaster - and especially so against bowlers who bowl a good line and a good length consistently.