Bowling Defence

In some ways, the first day of the second test at the Queens Park Oval was a new low for West Indian cricket, and in some others, it showed a continued adherence to policies that were known to have failed. The match will be remembered, however, as the one in which the West Indian management came up with a new concept, that of a bowling defence.

One has to think long and hard to come up with another West Indian attack that looked as harmless as this one, even if one were to include the second string West Indian teams that played a few series in the 1970s when Clive Lloyd's men were busy with the Packer series. If Dillon, at best a first or second change seam bowler was an unlikely strike bowler for the team, then Pedro Collins, who should struggle to get into the playing eleven of just about any test team on the planet was his partner.

Predictably enough, Pedro went for about six runs an over till the Australians eased up in a bid to consolidate. Vasbert Drakes, at the very least, is a thinking bowler, and could lay claim to being the only bowler who deserved to be part of the attack. His lack of pace, and the inability of the field to help him maintain the pressure made his task even more difficult. As for the rest, the less said the better.

That being the situation, the only charitable name one could come up with for a lineup of Dillon, Collins, Drakes and the rest would be 'bowling defence'. But for a few overs just after Ashoka De Silva claimed the first two Australian wickets, at no time did this bowling lineup look like doing anything more than defending. Defence of what, and to what end, is the question?

If the West Indian bowling was nothing short of historic in its weakness, the policy to pick medium pacers in preference to pacemen has been in place for some time in West Indian cricket now. Even after the relative success of Lawson in the few tests that he has played, the West Indian think-tank does not seem to think that a bowler of pace is necessary in the side. One can think of no other reason for the exclusion of Tino Best in the playing eleven for this test. Nor can one discern any reason why Darren Powell has been summarily cast aside after showing some promise in his outing in India. Perhaps the selectors do not see the same promise in bowlers like him that they do in Pedro Collins?

On wickets such as the one in QPO, it hardly needs saying that playing the waiting game against a batting lineup like Australia is doomed to fail. At any rate, even playing that waiting game would require bowlers with far more discipline than Pedro Collins, Bernard Jr and Marlon Samuels. A bowler with some pace would have given batsmen something to think about, as Drakes and Dillon did when they bent their backs and had Lehmann mishooking on a couple of occasions. The question that begs to be asked is: when and how did the West Indian team reach the conclusion that it had to approach test matches with three bowlers, none of them true strike bowlers?

If the bowling was woeful, the fielding was not much better. Nobody was more of a culprit than Marlon Samuels. Apart from his dropped catch, a sitter which gave Ponting a life when he was on just 37, one could count about ten runs that Marlon gave away through slack work in the field. That may not sound like too many in a score of 391/3, but they made it that much more difficult for the already depleted West Indian bowling defence to build any pressure on Australia. There are four days, and very likely two innings left for the West Indian batsmen in this test, but on the evidence of the first day's play, Samuels has done everything he can to convince the West Indian selectors that he lacks the discipline needed to play at this level. Even if he were to score a brilliant century in this test, his seemingly casual attitude would need to be addressed by the management in the interest of West Indian cricket.

The only bright spot of the day was the performance of the wicketkeeper, Carlton Baugh. He had one very difficult missed chance, but distinguished himself otherwise. More due to circumstances than due to any vision of their own, the West Indian selectors have been forced to pick a wicketkeeper who is just twenty years old. Should he be given a decent chance, the game of musical chairs with Courtney Browne and Junior Murray may just be over and the keeper's position may be settled for a few years to come.

It is a pity that similar circumstances could not force the selectors to pick Tino Best. The man reputed to be the fastest bowler in the Caribbean has to wait till the West Indian selectors decide that medium pace never was, and never will be, anything other than fodder for good batsmen in good conditions.

As for the rest of the team, seven batsmen now have a chance to score some runs against Australia. The difference however, is that they will be playing an attack with five specialist bowlers, two of them genuinely quick, and the other two, genuine spinners of the ball.