Cricket: Sloppy Windies get just deserts

By Colin Croft

West Indies tour

"New Zealand crush West Indies by nine wickets."

Considering the relative positions of the two teams after day one of the first test, this headline seems as if it came from the Twilight Zone.

I made a completely asinine assumption, at the end of the first day of this test, to suggest that the West Indies could not lose the game from that position. I am sure that normal people would forgive me for that thought when one remembers that the West Indies were 282-1 going into the second day.

Yet they went on to lose the match by nine wickets, with four hours left in the final day, after losing four hours on the fourth day.

It was an extraordinarily bad display at the highest level of the game. Except for the opening partnership on that first day, the West Indian cricket was really at a second-rate standard.

Obviously, New Zealand adapted better to the mental toughness needed to continue and win the game. The entire New Zealand team, from captain Stephen Fleming onwards, should be complemented for their individual and team efforts.

A few decisions may have gone against the West Indies, the main one being Chris Cairns being adjudged not out while making his first run on the way to a crucial 72.

However, that does not overshadow the absolute capitulation of the West Indies batting in the second innings to be all out for 97. No technological snafu was present here.

The Black Caps simply outplayed the West Indies in the second half of the match.

The overall display of the West Indies team, in the field and when batting, after that first innings start, was a complete disgrace.

Some of the field placings and outfielding and bowling seemed to be coming from the Marx Brothers, not a professional team of international cricketers playing at the highest level.

Some figures are necessary to describe the facts here.

The West Indies' second innings lasted 229 minutes. That is less than five hours for a test innings, on a perfectly placid pitch. Maybe they thought that they were in a one-day game, where an innings goes for about 2 1/2 hours.

After that first innings start by Adrian Griffith and Sherwin Campbell of 276, the West Indian batsmen then managed a really dismal 180 runs for the additional 19 wickets lost in the test. Truly unbelievable, under the very pleasant and less than hostile playing conditions.

The chief destroyer, in every sense of the word, was Cairns, easily the man of the match. He had some fantastic bowling figures. His fifth day figures were an astonishing 11.5-5-16-5; that gave him tremendous match figures of 10-100. Those figures take on an even more dramatic presence when one considers that Cairns got his first wicket only after conceding some 62 runs in the first innings. In effect, he had 10 wickets for 38 runs after that.

Cairns has become the consummate performing all-rounder. He did exactly what fast bowlers are supposed to do in the second innings. He bowled aggressively, was very determined, varied his pace along the way, and kept the batsmen playing at almost all of his deliveries.

The truth is that Cairns did nothing more than is expected of an international cricketer.

Lara lamented after the game that he was particularly disappointed with both the outcome of the game and his own contribution to it. Given the context of the game at that time, he played as poor a stroke as can be imagined in the second innings.

Ricardo Powell, on the other hand, seemed to think that he could slash the cover from the ball. I am one who believes that once a player gets to test level, he must acclimatize quickly. Test cricket is not for babies. Powell must learn, quickly, that he must respect the opposition, or, as occurred in this game, he will be embarrassed.

There were some positives for the West Indies.

First, Campbell and Griffith played well enough to be given an extended run as openers.

Secondly, Reon King should warrant special comment. He easily outbowled the rest of his fast bowling counterparts and without him the team probably would have faced a larger deficit, as Courtney Walsh and especially Franklyn Rose were very ineffective, at best.

And legspinner Dininath Ramnarine showed, with his very positive returns, that, contrary to recent West Indies cricket thoughts and history, they will probably always include a spinner in the foreseeable future.

A tremendous amount of work will now be necessary from manager Clive Lloyd coach Viv Richards and Lara.

This is the ninth game in succession that the West Indies have lost away from home.

The rot must stop sometime. At least they hope so. Perhaps it will begin with the Boxing Day test.