All Eyes on Daren Ganga

Since his debut against South Africa five years ago, Daren Ganga has been one of the most controversial selections in West Indies cricket. After eight Test matches, all away and all against the top two teams in the world, his batting average stood at an unlucky 13.

Certainly he was unlucky to be pushed unready into the arena of Test cricket at the tender age of 19, and on the tour that declared the collapse of West Indies cricket to be official. With promising technique but little experience and no first-class record to speak of, the Trinidadian faced up to two of the world's best fast bowlers on fast pitches and failed, along with the rest of his team.

The story was the same two years later when Ganga top scored with 20 as Australia bowled the West Indies out for an embarassing 80.

Unluckily, individual statistics do not take percentage contribution into account, and 20 runs is not generally considered much of a score, even when the greatest batsman in the world gets a duck in the same innings. By the end of the tour not only were questions being asked back home, but local Australian media were asking how someone with an average in the low teens could be representing what was once the greatest cricket team in history.

Perhaps the real question that should have been asked was whose interests were being served by persisting with Ganga at that stage? Certainly not Daren Ganga's, for while he would have been a fool to decline selection, the fact is that he would have been far better served by concentrating on building himself as a player at lower levels and coming back into consideration the usual way.

Those who argued that to drop him would end his career need not have worried. No one will ignore a 21-year-old batsman making big runs in domestic cricket, just ask Chris Gayle.

In fact, had Ganga been allowed and encouraged to go back and get a cricketing education he would without question be further ahead in his career than he is now. It doesn't matter how much potential you have or how good your technique is, you need experience and self confidence to succeed as a batsman in international cricket.

How can you expect a 20-year-old to have self confidence when he is not succeeding at any level? Certainly it is not hard to imagine the views many of his teammates would have taken, spoken or not, when he was not in the side on merit but rather through the back door, on a promise of potential.

Eventually the Right Thing happened, and with the backing of his home board, Ganga went back and earned the right to come through the front door, on the back of credible domestic and overseas tour experience. No doubt bolstered by his newfound success, he scored back-to-back centuries against Australia on their visit to the Caribbean, proving to his doubters and himself that he can succeed against the best in the world.

And for those who cannot erase the memory of his early career, consider the case of the captain of the visiting Aussies, who is widely regarded as one of modern Test cricket's best batsmen. For, at the same stage of his own career, Stephen Rodger Waugh had scored 52 fewer runs in Test cricket than Daren Ganga.

It's certainly possible that Ganga will not achieve the heights that Waugh has reached. It doesn't come easy, as they say. But Waugh has shown that it is also possible to put a poor start behind you if you have the drive, commitment and passion.

As Ganga returns to the place it all began, all eyes are focused on his performance this time around. For sure, he's better equipped to deal with the brutal nature of international cricket. Does he have what it takes to be dominant at the highest level?

We shall soon see.