It might have been a deliberate deception designed to confuse the South Africans but the West Indies last night announced that they would not decide until just before the toss this morning whether captain Chris Gayle and fast bowler Fidel Edwards would play in the third, final and decisive Test.
The team’s media manager, Philip Spooner, announced that the two walking wounded would be subjected to late fitness tests that would determine their participation.
As crucial as they are to the strength of the eleven, especially Gayle, it would be a foolhardy gamble to subject them to the intensity of a critical Test, given their condition.
During their loss in the second Test that levelled the series 1-1, Gayle aggravated the right hamstring he pulled in an ODI in Zimbabwe December 2 batting in the first innings and sustained a hairline fracture of his left thumb going in at No.6 in the second.
Within 4.5 overs of the start of the Test, Edwards limped off with a left hamstring strain, returning again only as a batsman with a runner.
It was the fifth time he has been unable to finish a Test through injury, a history that must make the selectors wary about taking the risk.
Gayle himself stated on Monday that he would be unable to make it but manager Clive Lloyd has pushed for him to reconsider his position.
“I’d like to see him out there and I know the players would like to see him out there,” Lloyd said at the media briefing. “It’s obviously a decision that only Chris can make but obviously I hope he can play because he creates such a good atmosphere in the team.”
“He’s got the sort of charisma that’s been lacking in the past and I believe he can become the hub of a team
that is only a player or two short of becoming very good,” he added.
Lloyd supported his optimism by relating the famous case of Malcolm Marshall’s match-winning influence against England at Headingley in 1984 when he was captain and the fast bowler took seven second innings wickets with a broken left thumb in plaster.
The difference was that Marshall sustained the injury during the Test, batted No.11 with one hand to (successfully) help Larry Gomes to his hundred and bowled with his good hand.
Other sports have non-playing captains but in cricket he needs to be on the field, the reason Lloyd is so keen for Gayle’s presence.
Gayle had a similar decision before him prior to the first Test when his hamstring was still not healed and needed to be heavily strapped. He chose to play and not only got all the way through the match but contributed to the historic victory with his leadership and scores of 66 and 29.
This is an even more vital match.
Victory would crown a quite exceptional turnaround for the West Indies who had been beaten in eight of nine previous Tests in South Africa (with the other drawn) and not won an overseas Test against credible opposition since 2000 in England.
The chance of short term glory that may end with more serious injury against a strong fast bowling attack, likely to be boosted to five with the inclusion of the experienced Shaun Pollock on an expectedly helpful pitch, or long term consideration? That is the question.
Edwards’ fire power is a strong argument for his inclusion but it is counterbalance by his background of injuries.
They are difficult choices but, if prudence is to outweigh expediency, Dwayne Bravo will lead for the first time in a Test on the field with Gayle inspiring from the team room and Devon Smith will open in his stead with Edwards to be replaced by his brother, the left-arm swinger Pedro Collins.
The match is the unforeseen finale to an understated series widely expected to be the one-sided dud that has been the habitual fate for the West Indies, not least in South Africa.
Instead, it has been a riveting contest featuring much that is good about the game and, to the delight not only of West Indians, restoring much of the once glorious reputation of West Indies cricket that has taken such a battering over the past decade. It has also been a refreshing contrast to the simultaneous goings on in an altogether more prominent contest on another continent. The much hyped Clash of the Titans between the modern powerhouses, Australia, and their confident challengers, India, was touted to be tight and enthralling, the ideal advertisement for the waning appeal of Test cricket. All else was no more than a basically irrelevant side show.
Instead, it has degenerated into obnoxious bickering between the teams, involving umpiring, race and sportsmanship that has met with a feeble response from the governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC). Together, they have sullied the image of the game.
Perhaps there was too much at stake, both in terms of pride and money, the currency that now defines all international sport. Whatever the reasons, cricket has taken a severe knock.
Meanwhile, the series here between the country placed second to Australia alongside India and Sri Lanka on the ICC’s Test rankings against the lowest of the major teams has featured close, competitive cricket with hardly a complaint about anything and with a level of publicly expressed respect for each other that has been almost embarrassing.
Yet there might have been a hangover of animosity from their previous series, in the Caribbean in 2003, when the West Indies claimed that South African Graeme Smith had racially insulted Dwayne Bravo during play.
It was a charge vehemently denied by Smith and probably arose out of a misunderstanding over different accents and expressions.
It was, I wrote at the time, evidence that sledging of any kind needed to be outlawed, given the game’s diverse cultures and its different languages and lingo that can so easily lead to problems. The rumpus in Australia further supports the case.
There has been no such friction in this series. For that, the captains, coaches and managers deserve as much credit as for the cricket played.