Finally, Something to Cheer About

In response to a daunting Australian first innings total of 576/4, the West Indies put together the sort of performance that should satisfy their most critical supporters. Against the world's best attack, a total of 408 should give the West Indies immense confidence that they can match the Australians if they perform to potential, at least for a few sessions in the test match.

The limelight, as it has been for the last decade or so when the West Indies are batting, was on Brian Lara, who compiled an innings of 91, studded with scintillating strokes under immense pressure. However, one would have to say that the man largely responsible for the West Indian fightback was Darren Ganga. On the way to his second successive century, Ganga displayed a cool temperament, immaculate technique and decisive strokeplay.

In a remarkable display of batting, Ganga showed fine judgement outside the off stump against the fast bowlers and played the short deliveries with ease. Most importantly, he countered the spinners, Hogg and especially the prodigous turn of Macgill with aplomb. It would suffice to say that Ganga seemed to read both Macgill and Hogg all the time, even better than Brian Lara. There is still a lot of cricket left in this match, leave alone in this series, but on the strength of his back to back centuries, one should not be surprised to see Ganga play the same role in the future for the West Indies that Rahul Dravid does for India.

Brian Lara showed a willingness to attack from the very beginning, attempting to pull a barely short of length delivery from Brett Lee. The strokes he played were vintage Lara, and left the Australian fielders mere spectators. As he often does when he is on song, Lara's supple wrists seemed to conjure up gaps out of nowhere, and it hardly seemed as if there was any length that a bowler could safely bowl to him. However, his eagerness to dominate saw him play more false shots than usual, including inside edges close to the stumps off both Bichel and Gillespie. Lara raised the mood of his home crowd to ecstatic joy with his strokes, but left them in stunned silence as he missed a sweep off Brad Hogg to be bowled behind his legs. Lara may not have scored his first test century on his home ground, but he played an innings that will be remembered for a long time to come.

Earlier, both Ganga and Lara began their innings under pressure due to the early dismissals of Devon Smith and Wavell Hinds. Smith edged an angled delivery to the Gilchrist, his second like dismissal in three innings. He will have to work this area of his game out quickly if he is to score against international teams, especially Australia.

Wavell Hinds has always seemed to have trouble blending defence with attack. The hallmark of great batsmen is always controlled, not unbridled aggression. In this innings, he played shots from the very beginning before playing a delivery he could have left alone. Unless the West Indian selectors plan to keep Gayle out for even longer, Hinds will be under pressure in the second innings to score runs to keep his place in the team.

On the third morning, Ganga continued in the same manner as the previous day with Ramnaresh Sarwan for company. Sarwan looked fairly composed, though he did not play with the same authority as Ganga. Finally, when he looked set for a large score, Sarwan was undone by a superb piece of fast bowling by Brett Lee, a reverse-swinging yorker beating his defensive prod to take the leg stump. With the last series in Australia no doubt in mind, Lee made no secret of his attempts to york Sarwan, who seemed to have this particular delivery covered till it swung in very late. Disappointed though he was, Sarwan can take heart in the fact that hardly any international batsman would have been able to survive that delivery.

The departure of Sarwan brought Marlon Samuels to the crease, and with him, phenomenal timing and brilliant strokeplay. If the future of West Indian batting was on display at the Queens Park in the form of Ganga, Sarwan and Samuels, then the future does seem to hold ample promise. Undaunted by the loss of Ganga, caught at slip off Brett Lee, Samuels played stroke after stroke of breathtaking beauty, including two boundaries and a six in one Hogg over, just as the bowler was beginning to threaten. As a testament to the quality of his batting, Vivian Richards stood up to applaud his half-century. Just when he had a test century for the taking, Samuels threw it all away with a lofted drive to long off. A careless dismissal ending a carefully compiled innings.

Bernard Jr had a torrid introduction to test cricket, being peppered with short deliveries before Gillespie bowled him through the gate with a peach of an inswinger. His fellow debutant, Baugh Jr on the other hand, distinguished himself both against pace and spin. He seems to have trouble with the delivery angled into his pads, with the ball taking the leading edge on a couple of occasions, but otherwise, he did everything to suggest that the West Indian search for a wicketkeeper batsman is over. Most deliveries bowled to him met the middle of his bat. His dismissal, though, was a study in inexperience, an attempted cut smashing his stumps down.

Vasbert Drakes, as if inspired by the top order, struck some hefty blows, and more importantly, added 32 runs after the dismissal of Samuels, taking the West Indies from 376/8 to 408.

The Australian second innings saw a much improved bowling performance from both Dillon and Drakes, reward for which was the wicket of Justin Langer. An outswinger followed by an inswinger earning Drakes a wicket through a marginal lbw decision.

Going into the final day, Australia have a lead of 199 with nine wickets in hand. They still hold the upper hand in the match, but the manner in which the West Indies batted in the first innings should make them optimistic about batting, and battling, their way to a draw in this game. Considering that opponents have only managed to draw five matches against this Australian lineup, each time due to rain, that would be a result the West Indies would be very happy with. Beyond that, it would show for certain that West Indies cricket is on the upswing again, if such a conclusion cannot already be drawn from the West Indian showing in this test match so far.