W.I v England by the Numbers
Wed, Jul 21, '04
West Indies' 36 years old stranglehold over England in the Caribbean came to a convincing end last April when England beat West Indies at Kensington Oval to go 3-0 up in the four match series. In the fourth and final Test at Antigua, West Indies repaired some of the psychological damage inflicted during a demoralising series.
That series marked the point in which West Indies did not win a single Test match in a series against England since 1969 when Ray Illingworth's England side beat Garry Sobers' West Indies 2-0 in a three match rubber.
West Indies' captain Brian Lara's brilliance in the Antigua Test however cannot mask the deficiencies of a batting line-up that showed an alarming propensity to collapse throughout the series with West Indies passing 224 only once in six attempts before making a mammoth 751-5 declared at St John's.
The upcoming Test series between England and the West Indies in England is evoking a considerable amount of concern in the Caribbean because Lara's side is one of the most inexperienced in living memory to tour England. The West Indies bowling attack was outclassed by that of England's in the Caribbean last March-April and it will be the sternest test ever for the likes of Fidel Edwards, Tino Best, Pedro Collins, Jermaine Lawson and Ravi Rampaul. None of these bowlers have any significant experience of the British Isles condition.
The West Indies side consists of three uncapped players and six players with less than eight Test matches to their name. West Indies will have to rely heavily on the experience of their three main batsmen and wicket-keeper who have played in England before: Lara (11 Tests, 1004 runs @55.77), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (4 Tests, 207 runs @41.40), Ramnaresh Sarwan (3 Tests, 163 runs @40.75) and Ridley Jacobs (5 Tests, 137 runs @19.57).
The last time West Indies won a series in England was in 1988, at that time the West Indies side had the likes of Richards, Greenidge, Haynes, Richardson, Dujon, and Logie. Giants like Marshall, Walsh, Ambrose, Benjamin and Patterson led the bowling attack. In West Indies' last tour of England in 2000, the vanguard of the late 1980s, Ambrose and Walsh were still in the side. Walsh's 34 wickets (@12.82) were the most by West Indian in England since Marshall's 35 wickets in 1988. His partner Ambrose (17 wks @18.65) playing in his last Test series provided magnificent support, only once did England passed 300.
Sarwan (163 runs @40.75) on his first overseas tour topped the WI batting averages and came second overall behind Trescothick (190 runs @47.50) - no other batsmen on either side averaged in the 40s. Twice, West Indies were bowled out for double figures: 54 at Lord's and 61 at Leeds. West Indies fans in the Caribbean and abroad will no doubt hope that Lara's side will improve upon their last showing against the Bangladesh in Caribbean and that the side will end the tour with a better result than the 3-1 loss by Jimmy Adams' side in 2000.
UPCOMING MILESTONES
* Lara has scored 9830 runs and needs another 170 runs to become the only fourth player after SM Gavaskar, AR Border and SR Waugh to reach the 10,000 runs milestone. Lara, currently on 189 innings, will probably reach this milestone faster than Gavaskar (212 inns), Border (235) and Waugh (244). He has 26 Test centuries and he needs one more to become the record holder for the West Indies.
* Lara (2719) needs another 150 runs to become the fifth highest run maker against England after DG Bradman (5028), AR Border (3548), GStA Sobers (3214), SR Waugh (3200) and IVA Richards (2869).
* Lara needs another 86 runs to become the first player to reach 1000 runs for the 2004 calendar year. Previously Lara scored 1222 runs (1995), 1151 (2001) and 1344 (2003), the most by a West Indian. Lara also needs another 3 fielding dismissals to overtake Garry Sobers' record of 40 dismissals against England. The player with the most runs in this calendar year after Lara is Sarwan (738) and Gayle (735), both third and fourth respectively on the list with Sri Lanka's MS Atapattu second on the list with 787 runs.
* Shivnarine Chanderpaul has scored 4755 runs and needs another 245 runs to become the only 10th West Indian to score 5000 runs. The other players to do so are BC Lara (9830 runs), IVA Richards (8540), GStA Sobers (8032), CG Greenidge (7558), CH Lloyd (7515), DL Haynes (7487), RB Kanhai (6227), RB Richardson (5949) and CL Hooper (5762). Chanderpaul needs another 132 runs to reach 1000 aggregate against England.
* Chris Gayle needs another 365 runs to reach the 3000 runs milestone and to become the 22nd West Indian to do so.
* Marcus Trescothick has scored 3663 runs and needs another 337 runs to become the 25th player from England to score 4000 runs. Andrew Flintoff has scored 1625 runs and needs another 375 runs to reach the 2000 runs milestone.
* Steve Harmison needs another 6 wickets to become the first player to take 50 wickets in the 2004 calendar year and the 6th player from England to do so after SF Barnes (1912), FS Trueman (1963), RGD Willis (1977,1978,1982), IT Botham (1978,1981) and ARC Fraser (1998). Harmison's closest competitor in the race is Sri Lanka's Mutthiah Muralitharan, currently on 42 wickets.
* Ashley Giles needs another 6 wickets to become the 38th player from England to reach the 100-wicket milestone. Giles also needs another 171 runs to reach the 1000 runs milestone.