Cricket: Much better effort from the Windies

By COLIN CROFT

West Indies tour

Maybe Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand cricket captain, is right - right now, the West Indies team do seem to be more prepared and certainly more suited to one-dayers than tests.

The endeavour put in by them in their first game of the new millenium was considerable and pleasing to watch.

The move by Brian Lara to bat at No 3, after Sherwin Campbell and Ridley Jacobs had given them a great start of 111 runs in only 18 overs, was also a good, positive gamble.

Lara seemed determined to make the first game of 2000 into a winner for the West Indies. He could even be excused if he thought, but did not say, that he might have been let down by his bowlers when they batted, but especially when they bowled.

With such a start, 96 for none from the first 15 overs, the West Indies should have made at least 300, especially after Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand's left-arm spinner, had completed his wonderful stint of one for 28 off 10 overs.

Nathan Astle has become more useful as an allrounder, contributing one for 37 off nine overs to New Zealand's effort after Chris Cairns left the field with a suspected back problem. It must be pleasing to his captain that Astle is becoming such a player.

Meanwhile, the West Indies' lower middle order just did not fire.

The first five batsmen, Campbell, Jacobs, Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ricardo Powell all made double figures, with the first three getting half-centuries.

Yet the West Indies deteriorated from being 249 for three to 268 for seven, their final score, in the space of three overs. When a team are tentative in their beliefs and not confident of their own efforts, such things as giving away the initial advantage do happen.

New Zealand are on a great, confident high. The relaxed mood of Fleming afterwards suggested that he was sure that his team would cope well chasing such a score, even though he himself did not contribute much.

On the field of play, Fleming certainly looked as if he was just more aware of the needed, and dreaded, Duckworth-Lewis scoring system after the rain had come for a spell.

Both Fleming and Craig McMillan failed, yet Craig Spearman, Chris Harris and especially Astle and Cairns, as batsmen, managed to thwart every move made by Lara and his men on the field, especially after the rain.

Cairns will probably never forget this West Indian tour. It seems that every time he does something on the field, he is successful, his belligerent 75, with boundaries galore, being the most recent instalment. Astle's 77 was the rock on which the eventual New Zealand victory was founded, with just five balls to spare.

Reon King was again the best West Indian bowler, and he too will remember this tour with pleasure. His improvement is obvious. Courtney Walsh and Merv Dillon looked ready, but even though Franklyn Rose did get the vital wickets of both Astle and Cairns in the same over, giving away 71 runs from nine overs (the most expensive return in the game), was not what is expected of a frontline bowler and certainly not what was required by his captain.

The main difference between the two teams is confidence, and lack thereof. New Zealand are on a roll, a winning, confident roll.

The West Indies must overcome their self-doubt to try to win the next match, at Taupo, at all costs. It would be a tremendous fillip for their spirits and hopes.