By Tony Cozier
In BRIDGETOWN
Rod Stewart would have had something entirely different in mind when writing the lyrics to one of his several hits but they are equally applicable to cricket, especially in the present series.
`Some guys have all the luck/Some guys have all the pain/ Some guys get all the breaks/Some guys do nothing but complain,’ went the chorus line.
From the second day of the first Test at Sabina to the first day of the third at Kensington yesterday, Andrew Symonds has been the guy with all the luck, the West Indies bowlers those with all the pain. The
dreadlocked Australian has got all the breaks and, although they haven’t, the West Indies have every right to complain.
Three times, the umpires have been involved. Occasionally, fielders have given him the chance. So it was again yesterday. And he has always been good enough to take advantage and to change the course of an innings that was in danger of imploding.
In the first innings at Sabina, Australia had slid from the first day security of 301 for four to 372 for seven at lunch. First ball on resumption, Fidel Edwards bent a late inswinger into Symonds’s pads and only umpire Russel Tiffin could not detect that the ball was zeroing in on middle and leg stumps.
Symonds was 18 at the time. He proceeded to carry Australia to 431 unbeaten 70 when the last wicket fell.
In the second innings in Antigua, unconvinced umpire Mark Benson ruled him not out on his leg-side catch off the glove to Denesh Ramdin off Dwayne Bravo when still in single figures. He finished unbeaten 43.
Yesterday, Chris Gayle’s catch off Simon Katich’s swirling topedged hook off Edwards left Australia lurching at 111 for five in the fifth over after lunch.
As Symonds entered the arena, arms swinging in preparation for battle, the West Indies might have had troubling memories of recent escapes.
Their fears were quickly realized.
He was seven when he cut fiercely at Bravo. The bounce from a sprightlier surface than Sabina and the graveyard in Antigua sent the ball flying off the top edge and through the right hand of the flying Xavier Marshall at second slip.
From the start, the West Indies had identified Symonds’s weakness as an uncontrolled glide off his hip. To exploit it, Chris Gayle posted a catcher at leg-slip.
Bravo soon sprung the trap, inducing a deflection from the glove, just as he had done in Antigua. The outcome was the same, Benson again failing to be convinced of the claim for Denesh Ramdin’s catch.
Symonds was 14, Australia 133 for five.
One reprieve was as crucial as the other. On previous evidence, the West Indies would have known what would follow.
Symonds, undeterred by the booing of the few West Indians scattered among the hundreds of touring Australian supporters, took control in a partnership of 87 with Brad Haddin that shifted the direction of the innings.
Eventually, Symonds drove loosely at the persevering Bravo and Sewnarine Chattergoon pouched the catch at extra-cover. The damage was not as major as it might have been but it made the difference between the end of play total and an all-out 170 or so.
Yes, some guys have all the luck and others have all the pain.
