West Indian pride at stake

Here's a pop quiz. After two Test matches in the current series against South Africa, who has taken the most wickets for West Indies?

Wavell Hinds has, and he's an opening batsman. If anything, it indicates that the bowling has been a major problem area, and that's something West Indies will have on their mind when they take the field at Cape Town for the third Test.

With five wickets to his credit, Hinds has outdone Fidel Edwards, Merv Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Adam Sanford, and Corey Collymore: bowlers who were expected to hustle South Africa. Of the five, the most impressive bowling figures belong to Sanford, who claimed three for 170 in the second Test.

At the same time, though, Hinds has struggled with the bat, scoring 21 in four innings, five fewer than Dillon's tally. In all four innings so far, Hinds has been the first man to fall, and even Daren Ganga has failed to mount an effective defence, exposing the West Indian middle order to a charged-up bowling attack that has been relentless in its pursuit of wickets. But Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan have at least posed some resistance, if not threatened to take the game away. With two Tests to go and South Africa firmly in command, it is questionable whether individual flashes of talent will upset the equation.

South Africa don't have much to worry about, because the top order, barring Neil McKenzie, has delivered unfailingly, with five big centuries to show. Their hunger for runs has been matched only by the West Indian fielders' passion to regress. Even cats have fewer lives.

To their credit, the South African batsmen have taken these opportunities and built a battering ram. In the second Test, after Herschelle Gibbs tore into the attack, Gary Kirsten and Jacques Kallis came together and ensured that South Africa would not bat again. The bowlers have done their bit, too. The combination of Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, and Andre Nel has prised out 36 batsmen at an average of 20.

Lara isn't giving up yet. He rubbished talk of a series sweep by South Africa, and said that improving bowling standards wasn't difficult. It's a brave stand, but one thing's for certain: West Indies will need much more than just bowling improvements to make their rivals sweat.

South Africa (probable) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Jacques Rudolph, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Gary Kirsten, 6 Neil McKenzie, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Shaun Pollock, 9 Paul Adams, 10 Makhaya Ntini, 11 Andre Nel.

West Indies (from) Brian Lara (capt), Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Daren Ganga, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Smith, Ridley Jacobs (wk), Vasbert Drakes, Adam Sanford, Dave Mohammed, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards.