West Indies attack wide of the mark (23 May 1999)

23 May 1999

West Indies attack wide of the mark

Colin Croft

If anything, the second week of the World Cup is even more difficult and presents many more problems for the West Indies than the first week.

In this second week, the West Indies, having lost to Pakistan and beaten Bangladesh, must beat two of New Zealand, Scotland and Australia to be assured of a place in the Super Sixes.

While beating Scotland should be relatively easy, Australia and New Zealand present different but equally difficult problems. The first game played by the West Indies, against Pakistan, was something of a strange revelation in selection policy. There is a saying in the Caribbean which could pertain to the West Indies team selection for the game against Pakistan: 'What rain cannot fill, then dew cannot fill'. Particularly in cricketing parlance, there is also the adage: 'If six batsmen can't do the trick, then seven won't either'.

In that first game, the West Indies selected seven batsmen, plus wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs, to partner only three regular fast bowlers. That left the team unbalanced even before the game started. When one of those batsmen, Keith Arthurton, also something of an orthodox leg-spinner, was injured after bowling just one over, that imbalance became more exaggerated.

Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Merv Dillon all did well overall in that Pakistan game. Indeed, Wasim Akram's side were 42 for four at one stage, but there was no one who could administer the coup de grace to Pakistan's batsmen. In the end, Pakistan managed 229, despite Walsh, Ambrose and Dillon conceding only 93 from the 30 overs bowled between them.

The 10 overs bowled by Arthurton, Jimmy Adams and Ricardo Powell cost 83 runs. Surely there was need for the fourth 'real' bowler, despite Brian Lara's claim that it was perhaps the loss of Arthurton's all-round service more than anything else which affected the West Indies while in the field.

Having, as expected, beaten Bangladesh, the West Indies now have to face the confidence and know-how of New Zealand, fresh from their win against Australia.

However, as was acknowledged by Brian Lara after the game in Dublin, the West Indies' bowling was less than clinical against Bangladesh, despite Walsh's continued superb showing, resulting in figures of four for 25.

Even though Lara had four front line bowlers in Walsh, Dillon, Reon King and Hendy Bryan at his disposal, Bangladesh still managed 182 after being 55 for four. No-balls and wides continue to haunt the West Indies and undermine the bowlers' efforts.

Patience and discipline need to be much more evident if the West Indies are to progress further. New Zealand and Australia are much better equipped for the fray than Bangladesh.

New Zealand's bowling is something of a cross between the express pace of Pakistan's quickies and the military medium 'dobbers' of the Bangladeshi bowlers. More particularly, the New Zealand batsmen are more adept at playing good fast bowling than even Pakistan are, as the Kiwis demonstrated with their treatment of Australia's Glenn McGrath and Damien Flemming. New Zealand are on a high, having won two from two, and will not be overawed by either the occasion nor the opposition.

Having lost to New Zealand, Australia would also want to bounce back quickly and emphatically. They play Pakistan today, but will be scrapping and fighting all the way to the end of this coming week when they meet the West Indies at Old Trafford.

It is conceivable that this last preliminary game could decide which of the two teams proceeds to the next round and which goes home.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)