THE EDITOR, Sir:

I HAVE read the gushing reports in your newspaper regarding the sloppy West Indies performance in the recently concluded first Test. I am particularly disappointed by Tony Becca's glowing review as he ought to know better. None of them seemed to have watched the game that was broadcast.

In the game I watched, I saw:

1) The West Indies win the toss and insert the opposition only to be chasing the ball fruitlessly for two days as England posted 550+ for five declared;

2) A West Indies team which dropped crucial easy catches and fielded sloppily, and with more consideration for the laundry lady than its fans;

3) A West Indies team unable to bowl out the opposition once in the match;

4) A West Indies team unable to score a single century despite many starts (on the same pitch that five centuries were scored by the opposition) against an England attack that started minus Andrew Flintoff and then was short two bowlers with Matthew Hoggard off the field and Steve Harmison all over the place.

In the end, we were saved by persistent bad weather from yet another embarrassment and proved that we cannot cope at Test level. What is there to be hopeful about? I expect an innings defeat at Leeds (weather permitting) and another unbalanced loss at Old Trafford where Monty Panesar will (again) cruelly expose our incompetence against good spin bowling. I can't speak about the fourth Test because I know nothing about the venue, Chester Le Street.

ignoring the obvious

Why would people ignore the obvious? Is it that we are so happy to see the back of one B.C. Lara that anything in his absence becomes progress? It is just this sort of warped perspective, born of gazing at the game through the roseate chimera of a cloud of optimism, that created the current crop of monsters masquerading as Test cricketers in the first place?

I can't forget that Marlon Samuels' Test debut in Australia was headlined as 'magnificent' when he scored less than 50 runs and took three or four wickets. Is it any surprise that his disciplinary problems are now suffocating the team?

It's time to stop calling a spade a shovel and to have more respect for the Sealy mantra 'Get the facts!'.

I am, etc.,

GORDON ROBINSON

robinson@cwjamaica.com

69 Lady Musgrave Road

Kingston 10