By Winston McGowan
Today the West Indies begin another Test series, this time against Australia. This series will certainly be a moment of truth for West Indies cricket – a time when the true state of the regional game at the highest level and in its most important and instructive form will be revealed.
This rubber will be a moment of truth for the West Indies for several reasons. Firstly, the West Indies, though still ranked eighth in the International Cricket Council’s Test ratings, have shown at least a slight improvement in its performance in Test cricket recently. For example, it won a Test in South Africa for the first time in its tenth attempt dating back to 1998. This was one of the West Indies’ rare Test victories overseas against respectable opposition in the last ten years.
Furthermore, more recently the West Indies shared a series 1 – 1 with Sri Lanka. Though it was the first occasion the Sri Lankans won a Test in the Caribbean, the West Indies responded to this sound defeat in Guyana by gaining an impressive victory in the second Test in Trinidad by six wickets.
These two successes understandably have created a measure of optimism, however muted, among West Indies cricket officials in relation to the Aussie visit. Admittedly, however, in striking contrast to the past, they have not prompted officials to suggest that West Indies Test cricket has “turned a corner”. If the regional team performs well against Australia, such a claim no doubt will be made.
The second and most important reason why this Test series against Ricky Ponting’s team will be a moment of truth for the West Indies is that the opponents are the Aussies. Australia almost invariably has been the West Indies most formidable opponent in the history of Test cricket since their first encounter “Down Under” in 1930 – 1931, though it is true that South Africa has a better record in Test cricket against the West Indies than any other team. The West Indies have never won or even drawn a Test series against South Africa. After winning the single initial Test against the South Africans at Kensington Oval in 1992, the West Indies has lost all the four subsequent series between the two sides. Of the 18 Tests played by them, the South Africans have won 12 and lost three, with the other three games ending in a draw.
The West Indies took longer to win a Test series against Australia than against any other team, South Africa not being considered. It defeated India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in their first rubber, England in the fourth and Australia only in their fifth clash.
This historic initial series victory over the Aussies by two matches to one with two games drawn occurred in the Caribbean in 1965. It was a significant victory which enabled the West Indies to be recognized as world cricket champions for the first time since their inauspicious entry into Test cricket in 1928, 37 years before. The four Guyanese in the team – Basil Butcher, Lance Gibbs, Rohan Kanhai and Joe Solomon – made an invaluable contribution to the team’s success. Kanhai and Butcher were second and third respectively in the team’s batting averages behind the Barbadian opener, Conrad Hunte, while Gibbs with his off-spin had the most victims (18), finishing second to the Barbadian fast bowler, Wesley Hall, in the averages.
It was Australia thirty years later in 1995 who brought an end to the West Indies remarkable 15 years of dominance of world cricket by defeating Richie Richardson’s team by an innings and 53 runs at Sabina Park in Jamaica. In those fifteen years since a series loss in New Zealand in 1980 due largely to partisan umpiring, the West Indies, excluding two one-off Tests against South Africa and Sri Lanka, had won 19 and drawn eight rubbers, playing 115 Tests, winning 59, losing 15 and drawing 41.
The innings victory by Mark Taylor’s team in Jamaica in May 1995 enabled Australia to secure its first series victory against the West Indies since 1976 and to regain the Frank Worrell Trophy after eight unsuccessful rubbers. It was the West Indies’ first innings defeat in a Test since 1985 at Sydney, Clive Lloyd’s last Test appearance, and its first such defeat at home since 1958 against Pakistan at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad.
Australia has been world cricket champions since its historic victory over the West Indies in 1995. Though their dominance has not equalled that enjoyed by the West Indies in the 1980s and early 1990s, the Aussies have broken several of the records achieved by the triumphant West Indies in that era of glory, including the record for the longest sequence of victories in consecutive Test matches. The team presently dominates both the longer and shorter versions of the game and should prove to be a searching test for the West Indies.
Since their inaugural Test in Australia in December 1930, the West Indies and Australia have played 102 games, with the Aussies winning 48, the West Indies 32, one game tied and 21 drawn. The West Indies’ record against England, its other long-standing foe, is much better. In 134 Tests between the two sides dating back to 1928, the West Indies have won 52 and lost 38 with 44 games drawn.
There is clearly more reason for the West Indies to fear Australia than England both because of the results historically and the present comparative strength of these two teams. Yet there are two factors which may serve to help the West Indies’ cause in the current series.
The first factor is that the present Australian team, though world champions, is not as strong as its predecessor of a few years ago. Although useful replacements have been found for Justin Langer, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist, none of these replacements are as talented as these outstanding retired players whose presence made Australia seem almost invincible.
The second consideration is that the West Indies are playing at home, where they have performed far better than overseas, especially in the last ten years. In striking contrast to the ‘whitewashes” which the West Indies have suffered in the last two tours of Australia (5 – 0 in 2000 – 2001 and 3 – 0 in 2005 – 2006), at home in 1999 Brian Lara’s team drew the four-match series against Steve Waugh’s side 2-2 and in 2003 lost by three games to one.
In spite of these two seemingly mitigating factors, this current Test series is a moment of truth for West Indies cricket.
