To Act And Not Just React, Is The Need Of The Hour

The first test at Mumbai saw the West Indies sink to an abysmal defeat, even by the deplorable standards they have set for themselves lately. Needing to make 300 runs to make India bat again, not a single batsman showed the resolve to play the Indian spinners. The only batsmen who could be forgiven to some extent being Wavell Hinds, Chris Gayle and Chanderpaul, the first two for their relative inexperience in this part of the world.

As the West Indies move to Chennai for the second test, it would be prudent for them to ponder whether their tactics, as much as India's invulnerability at home, led to their defeat. The West Indian tactic of persisting with players who have failed time and again has to be questioned. The team selection for the last Test, and those chosen for the next one, makes one wonder if there is an identity crisis within the team management.

The need of the hour is for the West Indian team to act, to take the initiative by forcing the game to be played on their own terms. What they have done so far is has just been reaction to the Indian gameplan. With India having perfected the tactic of scoring large totals, and then getting opposition batsmen to bat against spin, with a packed close-in cordon, it is clear that mere West Indian reaction will not be enough to save them from defeat, leave alone give them any sort of advantage. Yet, by giving up their reliance on sheer pace, by picking spinners and medium fast bowlers and by attempting to stonewall the spinners, the West Indians are adopting a strategy which is doomed to fail.

The Indian players are outstanding players of spin, having been brought up on a diet of spin all through their formative years. Even a bowler of the caliber of Shane Warne has struggled in India time and again. Yet, on the eve of the second Test, the signals coming out of the West Indian camp are that Gareth Breese is being considered for selection. Perhaps the West Indians are being fooled by the success of Nagamootoo in the first Test, but any move to attack the Indians with more spin would be
a mistake. If Breese is being considered because of his ability with the bat later in the innings, then that would not just be a mistake, it would be sheer folly because it shows that a very defensive and reactive approach, rather like the one that led to the first Test debacle.

When confronted with a batting lineup such as India's present one, the priority of the West Indian team should be to strengthen the fast bowling, rather than to pick the bowler who has slightly better ability with the bat. Time and again, bowlers have shown that India is no fast bowlers' graveyard. Malcolm Marshall, Mike Holding, Andy Roberts, Patrick Patterson, Courtney Walsh and Sylvester Clarke have all done well enough in India to set a precedent for the West Indian team. The Australian team came within a hair's breadth of winning the Test series here in 2001 with an attack led by McGrath and Gillespie.

The only type of wicket on which pacemen cannot succeed is a completely dead track. Most Indian wickets, however, are not lifeless, they are underprepared. They often offer some life to the quicker bowlers on the first day, and subsequently still have some uneven bounce which a pace bowler can exploit.

The West Indian team has two bowlers of pace, Darren Powell and Jermaine Lawson. The right thing to do would be to play at least one of them in the Chennai test, preferably Powell. That would mean playing a pace attack of Dillon, Collins and Powell. Nagamootoo has done enough to retain his place for the test and he may also have learnt that slowing down and giving the ball more air is the way to bowl on Indian pitches, so he should be the lone spinner. Cameron Cuffy, both with his bowling and with his fielding, has done enough to be dropped for the rest of the test series.

The batting order would need some changes as well. Ryan Hinds clearly looks like he has not a clue about playing spin bowling. The problem is that his obvious replacement, Marlon Samuels also looked terrible against spin when he played in Sri Lanka. Since Sarwan has also struggled in his number three position, a possible solution would be to open the innings with Gayle and Ganga, to let Wavell Hinds come in at number three, and to push Sarwan to number four.

Though it is questionable whether Ganga would have been picked over a fit Devon Smith, his selection as opener for the next test match would prevent Hinds from playing the role of a non-regular opener. Both in terms of ability and in terms of possessing an aggressive attitude, Hinds has a lot to offer to this team. When pushed to the opening slot, he seems to either get totally tied down, or completely go berserk. The former approach leading to a longish but unproductive innings, and the latter only yielding a quick 30 or 40, neither of which reflect his true ability. Wavell Hinds playing a sizable innings may make all the difference to West Indies in this test match, since it would also reduce the
pressure on Sarwan and Hooper.

Jacobs has been a disappointment so far, and while it would not be fair to drop him after just one bad match, surely the West Indies must be thinking in terms of grooming a replacement. The contrast between the Indian and West Indian sides can be seen just in the choice of wicket-keepers. India has the seventeen year old Parthiv Patel, while the West Indies cannot seem to see beyond Ridley Jacobs, Junior Murray or Courtney Browne, all of whom are approximately twice Patel's age.

So that would mean, the team to take on India at Chennai would be Gayle, Ganga, Hinds, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Hooper, Jacobs, Nagamootoo, Dillon, Collins and Powell.

The other crucial thing would be for Hooper to bat if he wins the toss. The West Indian tendency to crack either in the face of a large first innings total, or while chasing a target in the fourth innings, with the fact that the West Indian batsmen may not be all that bothered by any early life in the wicket should make this an obvious decision. Beyond this, the attitude of the team, and their ability to get runs against the spinners through controlled aggression, rather than through hopeful swishes, or through pad-play, will decide the course of the game.