West Indies & New Zealand: Two teams heading in opposite directions

Let us be clear about one thing here. As Brian Lara openly admitted after the 2nd Test match, New Zealand totally outplayed the West Indies in nine of the ten days of Test cricket featuring these two teams. Perhaps even the New Zealanders, as pugnacious cricketers as the are, cannot believe their fortunes over the last two weeks. It was a combination of very poor West Indian cricket and excellent play from the New Zealanders.

Obviously, New Zealand were easily more prepared in every facet of the game for the last two weeks of Test cricket. Even those New Zealanders with slight injuries, key players like fast bowlers Chris Cairns and Dion Nash, stood up to the rigors of being involved, giving 100 percent effort, and getting their team this deserved win. Physically, and especially psychologically, New Zealand were much more ready than the West Indies for this Test series.

While many may have thought that New Zealand's lead up to this two Test series was non-functional, with little cricket for the players since returning from India, maybe Dion Nash himself may have hit the nail on the head. "Any rest that we get is truly welcomed these days, as international cricketers travel and play so much, that the body simply needs more time to recuperate, to freshen itself up." In itself, this short rest was a God-send for New Zealand.

Except for that first day of the first Test, New Zealand won every day of the series. They regrouped well after that first day, with their bowlers reorganizing their efforts to bowl at a fuller length on the bouncy but slow Hamilton pitch. The result was that the rest of the West Indian batting in that first innings of the first Test, through a combination of bad cricket, strangely inept batting for this level, and a thoroughly professional approach by Steven Flemming, Chris Cairns, Dion Nash, Daniel Vettori and the rest of the New Zealanders, only managed another 73 runs.

Of course, that magnified itself in the second innings of Test No. 1 when they were ignominiously bundled out, mostly destroyed by Chris Cairns, for 97. Cairns, as good a cricketer as he is turning out to be, after being nearly out of New Zealand's, and international cricket a few years ago, for supposed indiscipline, must have thought that he had a Christmas gift a few days late.

The West Indies cricket effort in that first Test was confusing, at least. They started well, with Adrian Griffith and Sherwin Campbell. After that, the batting, from captain Brian Lara and the rest of the batsmen, seem to come from "Tales of the Crypt." Certainly international cricketers should not look so dull, drab and out of place in a two team race. The West Indies managed it.

The bowling too looked tremendously underdone. Except for a good showing from both fast bowler Reon King and spinner Dininath Ramnarine, the rest of the West Indies bowling never adjusted to the conditions nor the situation. Somehow, one got the impression that the bowlers could still be in the one day game mode, since they had played in at least five one day tournaments since their last Test in early May, and no Test cricket since.

Having lost the first Test so decidedly, after, at least for one day, being in a position to post a large score, perhaps a match-winning if not match-saving score, the West Indies then made some absolutely strange selections for the second Test. Obviously, the West Indies would have wanted to win the second Test, to even the series 1-1, but the selected team for the second Test had a very helter-skelter, perhaps even experimental, look about it.

Off-spinner Nehemiah Perry was brought in to replace right arm leg-spinner Dininath Ramnarine, one of the few success stories of the first Test. It was suggested that he was brought in to "bolster the batting". One wonders what credentials, as either a batsman or a bowler, he had to assume this selected position.

Ricardo Powell, the middle order powerhouse of the future, after a fair effort in the second innings of the first Test, where he clobbered 32 with seven boundaries, and his first game at this level, was dropped so that Darren Ganga, another opener, could be included. While Ganga had gotten a century in the only preceding first class game before the Tests, he is such a dogged type of batsman the West Indies did not need then. The team needed a dominant, run scoring batsman, to take the pressure from the batting team. Ganga would not have been that. Unfortunately for him and the team, his finger was broken and he did not bat anyway.

The worst selection, though, or perhaps non-selection, both in the first and the second Test, was the non-appearance of fast bowler Merve Dillon. He seemed to be the fittest, fastest and most ready fast bowler of the West Indian lot. Yet Dillon was not selected at all, while Franklyn Rose, who had not gotten a wicket in the first Test while conceding 131 runs. Merve Dillon had a right to be peeved, perhaps wondering whom he had offended in the West Indies selection panel.

Rose's selection, ahead of Dillon, along with that of Perry instead of Ramnarine, made no sense at all, when one considers that the West Indies needed to come out fighting and attacking from the start, if they were to win the Test. Perry is a very defensive bowler, while Rose was simply bowling badly. While he did improve slightly in the second innings of the second Test, Rose simply did not do enough to be played instead of Dillon.

Another bright light for New Zealand was, of course, Matthew Sinclair, in his inaugural Test. He did not look like a rookie. Indeed, as was also suggested by Lara and West Indies coach, Viv Richards, Sinclair did look like the batsman he was, a player who had made at least four first class hundreds before he had been elevated to Test level. He was ready.

Contrast that to perhaps Ricardo Powell, who is just younger. Powell, like most recent West Indian debutants, averages about 30 - 40 in first class cricket, with no real substantial scores, except in one day cricket. That the West Indies is not producing cricketers, especially batsmen of the ilk and caliber of Sinclair, for example, is a direct result of the poor preparation of West Indian pitches and overall poor organization of West Indian cricket. There was a time, as recently as when Lara made his Test debut, that West Indian cricketers had to prove themselves, by getting runs, many runs, before they could break into the big leagues. No more does that seem necessary or relevant.

In effect, the New Zealanders saved the second Test when they were all not dismissed in the first day of the second Test. They put themselves in a winning position when the made over 500 and then managed to again undermine the West Indies batting for less than 200. It was over bar the shouting.

The West Indies must now go away, after the one day games, and totally retool their team, their approach, their efforts. They were totally outplayed by a cricket team in New Zealand which has had a very fruitful year, beating both India and England before this triumph against the West Indies. While they may struggle against the Australians who are due to tour New Zealand in February next for three Tests, New Zealand are on a high, as they at least have learned how to change adversity to success.

Before the West Indies could look to beat their opposition, a great big introspective look is necessary, to replace personnel, and to look for a positive year forward. 1999 has been brilliant for New Zealand. Except for the two wins against Australia, complements almost single-handedly of Brian Lara, the West Indies have lost all of their Test matches, and most of their one day games too, in 1999. If any international cricket team needed a change of times, a change of fortunes, it must be the West Indies. For the senior West Indian cricket team, 2000 could not come quickly enough.