The West Indies cricket team is now back home after completing its third tour of South Africa, whose former racist apartheid policy had prevented competition between the two teams until the 1990s. The results of the recent encounter show that the honours were shared in the 20/20 matches, each team winning one game, whereas the hosts won the Test series 2-1 and the 50-over ODIs 5-0.
This article is primarily an attempt to evaluate the West Indies performance in the three-match Test series. Such an evaluation must always take into consideration the principal ultimate objective of current Caribbean Test cricket, namely, the regaining of the global ascendancy enjoyed in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s.
This first instalment of this article will focus on the positive aspects of the West Indies performance in the recent Test series. The next instalment will examine the negative features, while the final one will assess the series in the light of the immediate and long-term future of West Indies cricket.
Perhaps the most positive feature of the Test series from a Caribbean perspective was the result. Although the West Indies team lost the series, it created history by winning a Test in South Africa for the first time. In the first historic tour in 1999, Brian Lara’s team had suffered a humiliating “whitewash”, 5-0 in the Tests, and in the second visit in 2003 the West Indies lost the rubber 3-0 with one Test drawn. In short, the region’s record in South Africa until the recent encounter was eight losses in nine Tests, with one game drawn.
The great disparity between the two teams, the hosts ranked second and the West Indies eighth in the ICC Test ratings was evident in other features of the statistical record. Before the West Indies arrived last December, South Africa had enjoyed two impressive series victories – the first in the challenging environment of Pakistan and the second at home against New Zealand, thrashed in four days in the first Test and three days in the second match. In striking contrast, the West Indies had not won a single Test since their memorable fourth-innings chase against Australia in Antigua in May 2005 and none overseas since 2002 against weak Bangladesh. In these circumstances even the most fervent supporters of the Caribbean team expected it to perform badly in South Africa. Apart from its previous abysmal record there, it was also without the services of retired master batsman Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan and there were serious questions about the fitness of the captain and leading opening batsman, Chris Gayle, who was suffering from a hamstring strain sustained a few weeks before in an ODI game in Zimbabwe.
Gayle’s assertions on arrival in South Africa that his team respected but did not fear their hosts had come not only to compete but to win the series and would make their opponents fight seemed to be empty bravado or excessive unrealistic optimism. This negative view seemed confirmed by his team’s poor performance against South Africa “A” in its only first-class game before the Tests – a defeat by 10 wickets in three days, with the batting failing in both innings, achieving meagre totals of 193 and 214 against South Africa’s reserve bowlers, Monde Zondeki and Charles Langeveldt.
Not surprisingly, the predictions by Carib-bean cricket analysts about the outcome of the Test series were almost invariably negative. For example, Tony Cozier, the region’s leading cricket commentator, predicted that the series would be “another one-sided disaster”, a total “mismatch” that would witness the annihilation of the West Indies. This writer expected another of the recurrent “whitewashes” the team had experienced overseas since its tour of Pakistan in 1997, or at best a defeat by two games to nil with one Test drawn.
It was therefore a great surprise, even a shock, when the West Indies won the first Test at Port Elizabeth comfortably by 128 runs and had a spirited performance in the second Test at Capetown before losing by seven wickets. Admittedly, the team was severely beaten in the third and final Test at Durban by an innings and 100 runs, prompting Cozier to lament that “these were the bad old days all over again.” However, the encouraging performance in the first two Tests should not be forgotten, especially the fact that the West Indies won its first overseas Test against respectable opposition in seven years.
The second positive feature of the West Indies performance was the team’s improved attitude, especially the application, determination, discipline, fighting spirit, confidence and even enthusiasm which it demonstrated almost throughout the rubber – qualities largely absent in recent years. This was noted by their opponents, whose skipper, Graeme Smith, observed that the West Indies team showed “a lot more discipline, a lot more character” than he had experienced in his two previous series against them, making his side have “to work very hard” to draw level after losing the first Test. This improved attitude was perhaps best reflected in the batting of Marlon Samuels.
Gayle’s captaincy was also noteworthy. As several members of the team acknowledged, it was inspirational and got the best out of them. According to manager Clive Lloyd, Gayle has “got the sort of charisma that’s been lacking in the past.”
Two other features were also welcome. One was Denesh Ramdin’s wicket-keeping which was impeccable throughout the series and significantly better than in recent times. The other was the team’s ground fielding and catching which were particularly good especially in the first two Tests.
There was also improvement in the bowling, normally the team’s weakest department, with the bowlers in recent years frequently showing a lack of penetration and command of line and length. The best bowlers were Dwayne Bravo who took 10 wickets at 20.30 runs each and Jerome Taylor who captured nine wickets for 31.77 runs apiece. Admitted-ly, however, the bowling declined in the third Test.
Though the batting often left much to be desired, there were at least three welcome redeeming features. The first was the consistent productive batting of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who topped his team’s batting averages, scoring 247 runs in five innings with an excellent average of 82.33. He again displayed the patience, concentration, discipline and single-minded tenacity which have usually distinguished his batting. As in the previous series in England, “Tiger” was “the Rock” of his side’s batting. His 104 in the first Test at Port Elizabeth off 254 balls in six hours, 40 minutes was his 17th Test hundred. It enabled him to join Everton Weeks and the Zimbab-wean, Andy Flower, as the only batsmen who have made seven consecutive Test scores over fifty. It followed his knock of 69 against Pakistan at Karachi in November 2006 and scores of 74, 50 and 116 not out, 136 not out and 70 in England in the following May and June.
The second welcome feature of the batting was the unusually useful contribution of the lower order, including the tail. Particularly noteworthy was the batting of Taylor at Number 9. He finished fifth in the batting averages with an aggregate of 102 runs and an average of 20.40, ahead of the specialist batsmen, Darren Ganga and Runako Morton, and all-rounder, Dwayne Bravo and the wicket-keeper-batsman, Ramdin. His impressive performance with the bat indicates that he may have the potential to become a useful bowling all-rounder. As coach Dyson, who urged Taylor to pay more attention to his batting, observed: “He really should aim to become a genuine all-rounder. His batting is certainly good enough for it.”
Perhaps the most welcome aspect of the batting was the performance of Marlon Samuels. Samuels arrived in South Africa with a poor record of having represented the West Indies in only 27 Tests sporadically since his Test debut against Australia “Down Under” seven years ago at the age of 18 and with a single Test hundred and a Test average of merely 27.3 runs an innings. In two innings
he batted for more than four hours, scoring 94 and 105, his second Test hundred, five years after the first against India at Kolkata in 2002. He was Man-of-the-Match in the first Test, scored more runs (314) and more fours (46) and faced more deliveries (674) than any player on either side in the series. He finished second to Chanderpaul in his team’s batting averages, with a commendable average of 52.33 and spent as long as “Tiger” at the wicket.
These welcome positive aspects of the West Indies performance, however, regrettably were counterbalanced by several negative features which will be the subject of the next instalment of this article.
