Tony Becca

The first Test of the 2007 contest between the West Indies and England ended at Lord's yesterday in a tame draw with the visitors, instead of hanging their heads, instead of licking their wounds, standing tall at the end.

Going into the Test match, not many, at home or abroad, believed that the West Indies had a chance of drawing the match much more of winning it. The odds, based on recent results, based on the statistics of the individuals on both teams, were distinctly against the West Indies.

Standing and fighting

When it was over, however, the West Indies were not even on the run. They were standing up and fighting.

At 89 without loss chasing a target of 401, they were going well - so well, in fact, that before the rain, there were those who believed that at 42 without loss at the first interruption, with Chris Gayle hitting the ball nicely and Daren Ganga defending well, with 359 runs needed and with enough overs in which to get them, as improbable as it appeared, victory was possible.

And with Ganga, Jerome Taylor, Gayle and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin dropping catches, but for their poor fielding and particularly so their catching, the West Indies probably would have been in a much better position to win the match when it was called off after only 20 overs on the final day.

Fielding and catching, however, is part of the game. Many times that is the difference between a strong team and a weak team and based on their performance after England's first innings, had they lost the match the West Indies would have had no one to blame but themselves - their fielders.

After losing Andrew Strauss and Owais Shah, England were a bit unsteady an Alastair Cook, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell and Matt Prior went on to chalk up centuries, they probably would not have got anywhere close to 553 for five declared had Ganga or Taylor caught Collingwood early in his innings.

Bowled well

Their fielding aside, however, the West Indies deserve to walk away from the match with their heads held high.

Although they were short-changed by a set of selectors who refused to include a genuine spin bowler in the squad, the West Indies, with the exception of Taylor, who nevertheless produced some good deliveries, bowled well.

Daren Powell was good in both innings, Corey Collymore and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo were also good, and particularly so in the second innings, and when I saw England's left-arm spinner Monty Panesar ripping through the West Indies batting in the first innings, I was left to wonder what a good spin bowler, what one like left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed would have done to England's batsmen coming on after the Windies pacers, to an extent, had softened them up with some good, consistent bowling.

For me, however, the West Indies deserve a round of applause for the way they batted.

Facing such a huge total in the first innings of a match which everyone, or almost everyone, expects you to lose, must have been dis-appointing - and especially so after dropping so many catches.

Batting for a cause

To their everlasting credit, however, but for Runako Morton, each and everyone of them - Gayle and Ganga, Devon Smith and captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, Bravo and Ramdin, Powell and particularly Shivnarine Chanderpaul who batted as if his life depended on how long he stayed at the crease - batted sensibly and well.

It was as if the West Indies batsmen were batting for a cause, and the way they batted must have influenced their performance in the field during England's second innings and the performance of Gayle and Ganga during the West Indies second innings.

Hopefully, it will not be business as usual after this. Hopefully, this is not, as has been the case in recent times, just their one performance of the series. Hopefully, they will continue to play with the same spirit and with the same kind of determination at Headingley, at Old Trafford and then at Chester-le-Street.