da betcris： A quick look back at this Test match, with neutral eyes, would tell thecomplete story
Colin Croft25-Nov-2000A quick look back at this Test match, with neutral eyes, would tell thecomplete story. One team was totally prepared for the fray, the other shouldnot have even bothered to turn up, since they did not compete. To be honest,Australia probably won this 1st test while the West Indies were still ontheir way to Australia, or even by in the Caribbean. Some explanations aredue. These are not excuses, mind you, but real hard facts. Also, Australiaare not responsible for West Indies cricket.Australia have not played a Test match since March/April, against New Zealandearlier this year. The West Indies not only played against England in theEnglish summer, but even before that, managed to just beat Pakistan at home,via some very dubious decisions, and Zimbabwe too. While Australia did playsome out of season cricket, one day games, at the Colonial Stadium againstSouth Africa in August this year, that was actually very ideal, since itwould have brought their minds back gradually to the task at hand inNovember, when they would be making their assault on the West Indies’ recordof 11 Test wins in succession.In the meantime, after the West Indies returned from England, they played ina one day competition in Kenya, like Australia, but then a one day regionalcompetition in Jamaica. That one day competition in Jamaica should have beenvery instrumental in telling the Caribbean powers-that-be in West Indiescricket that something was amiss. No one heeded the signs.In the Red Stripe Bowl competition just before coming to Australia, there wasonly one century by any batsman at all, over nearly three weeks of cricket.Ironically, that batsman, Junior Murray of the Windward islands, is not evenin Australia. All of the Test players competed for their respectivecountries in that competition. Additionally, in the final set of games, thesemi-finals and finals, none of the teams in “The Final Four” managed to get200 in any 50 over spell. That in itself should have been a warning that theWest Indian batsmen, who comprised most of the batsmen for that finalsegment, that they were not up to speed for a tour of Australia.Then the West Indies had a camp in Jamaica for about a week or so beforecoming to Australia. This was like water on a duck’s back. Already tired,that camp would have done little to entice the West Indian players to eitherbe up for the tour, or to enhance their abilities, already drained from thelast year. Like Australia, they needed pure rest. Unlike Australia, theycould not get it.To add fuel to that fire, if you will, the team’s normal psychologist, Dr.Rudi Webster, was nowhere to be seen. His last assignment was ended just asthe West Indies were losing that tortuous Test match at Lords which turnedaround the team’s English summer after they had beaten England in the 1stTest. The West Indies cricket team has not been good for some time, as SirGary Sobers suggested, but being beaten by England was exactly the laststraw. The team has not been itself since Lords, in June last.Rather weirdly, Dr. Webster is being used at home for the West Indies cricketteam, but not away, fully, where the team has been struggling for the lastseveral years overseas. If anyone could explain that to me, then they couldhave my lost fortunes too. Australia, on the other hand, tries to use theiron-call psychologists as often as they require them. The case of Mark Waugh,with the match-fixing situation, is a case in point.With that kind of preparation, the West Indies were on a tight tether, onlywaiting to explode. Unluckily for them, the Australians knew this too. TheWest Indies were simply not ready at all for the fray. Steve Waugh and hisguys knew that and worked at making it even more difficult for the WestIndies to effect any elasticity and come-back. In a word, the West Indieswere beaten before this first Test started.In 1996, Perth was used for the last Test match. In this tour, pointedly,the West Indies will be struggling there next week to avert anotherhumiliation, via Glen McGrath and Brett Lee. That is not incidental.Australia knows that the West Indies are cannon fodder now, and are using it,as they should, to their advantage. Notice that the best batting pitches,Adelaide and Sydney, will only be used after Australia had calculated thatthey will have broken the record, just in case Brian Lara and co get going.The West Indies batsmen are all in need of rest and some specialpsychological help too. The body language of especially the senior batsmen,and this is even going down to the newer ones too; Ramnaresh Sarwan has losthis way, his confidence and his bounce too; speaks volumes. Notice that theWest Indies bowlers have tried to even things out. Not only are theyhearing, but, seemingly, they are listening. In the meantime, Jimmy Adams,Brian Lara, even Shiv Chanderpaul, at least in the 1st innings, SherwinCampbell, Darren Ganga and Ramnaresh Sarwan seemed somewhat misplacedcollectively.Steve Waugh was brilliant as a captain in this game. His move to bring onStuart MacGill as the first change in the 1st innings was a master stroke,since all expected it to be an all out war with fast bowlers. MacGill dulyrepaid his captain’s cunning and confidence with the prized, almostinvaluable wicket of Sherwin Campbell, probably just less so than that ofLara. Campbell is normally the pebble, as opposed to the rock, that the WestIndies try to build their innings on.When Lara strode to the crease, the psychological trap was already set, asMcGrath had been on a rest break for over a half an hour, ready for theeffort once more. He too did not disappoint. Lara duly edged McGrath’sfirst delivery to him, the batsman badly out of place in foot movement, tothe ‘keeper. That, for all intents and purposes of the game, was that.Waugh had outplayed the entire West Indies cricket team’s hierarchy in just afew overs of the first day. With Lara gone, removed psychologically morethan physically, the rest of the team simply could not be strong enough tocope.As Glenn McGrath, the eventual “Man of the Match” suggested after his sixwickets in the 1st innings; “I will bowl much better than I did today and getmaybe one wicket.” He too knew that, while not really lucky, he had notreally bowled as well as he could to get those wickets. They were not reallypresented to him neither. He and his captain had worked for them long beforethe game started.Perth will be another matter altogether next week. The West Indies have verylittle time to recoup. There is even talk of perhaps a psychologist for theteam being brought in. Talk about closing the door after the horse hasbolted. For the West Indies to catch up now, they will have to work at warpspeed. From very recent testimony, they do not even seem to be able to comewith the speed of Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath.