Every Player Came to the Party
from MICHELLE McDONALD in JamaicaThe previous stages were obviously not big enough for Dwayne Smith, and so he saved one of his best performances for the biggest stage of them all. Producing fireworks from the 46th over, and lasting only 16 balls, he produced 32 explosive runs to drive the West Indies to a winning total of 241. He then came back with his medium pace to take three wickets, breaking crucial partnerships in the process.
With the fast bowling pair of Daren Powell and Jerome Taylor making the early strikes, and Corey Collymore, coming in as first change bowler from the George Headley end, drying up the runs, an exciting finish was always on the cards, but in whose favour?
Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer had said on Monday, when asked how he saw his team's chances given their success against the hosts in recent series, that "every game you start 50-50 and you have to outplay them on the day." West Indies did more than outplay Pakistan on Tuesday, and in so doing raised their fans' expectations for the rest of the tournament.
As usual though, Brian Lara was quick to hold back those running ahead of themselves. "We are not going to get carried away. We have just got to play each game one at a time and try and reach as far as possible," said the West Indies skipper. He raised some concern about the batting, which came in "spurts".
"We need to be scoring much more regularly at a much better run rate throughout the entire game, so we're going to work on that," he said at the post-match press conference. "We are a team that needs the scoring rate to be at a certain level from the start right through maybe to the 45th over. We are not going to be sitting back waiting for a big explosion at the end," he added.
After losing opener Chris Gayle for 2 runs early on, Ramnaresh Sarwan just missed out on a half century, sharing in a 57-run partnership with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who laboured on a pitch that both captains described as very good. Top scoring with 63, Marlon Samuels came in and changed the pace of the innings. The slow run rate had caused worry in the dressing room. "At one point in time, we were wondering 'who is going to start it'. Marlon started in that over against Rao and carried on and we built on it," said Lara. We've got players who are very creative, and we've got players who can hit the ball," said the captain.
Enter Dwayne Smith. He can definitely hit the ball and hit he did on Tuesday to the delight of the thousands of Sabina Park spectators. The dangerous Umar Gul was brought back in the 47th over, and the crowd was thrilled when Smith drove him through cover for four. After taking 11 off Naved-ul-Hasan in the next over, Gul had Smith caught by Inzamam-ul-Haq. By then, Smith's 32 off 16 had provided the fillip the West Indies needed to believe they could defend the runs.
Brian Lara described his team's fielding and bowling as "professional and consistent". Spectators must have wondered if the electronic scoreboard had stuck, since the number beside the 'extras' column remained on 3 for most of the Pakistani innings. Bob Woolmer, wrote in a March 14 Cricinfo column "we needed a solid start, something like 40 for 0 off ten overs would have been great but West Indies were dynamic in the field. They exuded energy as they dived, stopped and caught everything."
The Pakistani innings finished with only 4 extras – 2 leg byes and 2 wides – this being an indication of the total team effort that Lara commented on after the match.
"I think one of the key parts of the game was definitely the 20 overs bowled by Powell and Dwayne Smith from the top end. I think the experience of Corey Collymore and Jerome Taylor at the other end….I think those guys performed really well. It was a very good team effort. Everything went well for us. Everyone was diving around the field," he said. The sight of Chris Gayle tumbling near the ropes to try and cut off a boundary in the 43rd over was greeted with much applause by the crowd. Lara himself was tumbling around, but at 37, "I looked my age in the field!"
In the end, every single player came to the party with some measurable contribution. Who were not lucky enough to score runs, helped to cut off some in the field. The bowlers who did not get wickets, kept things tight. No one over stepped the popping crease. Normally Samuels and Gayle would have been called upon to bowl, and Lara made the decision not to use them. "The straight boundaries are pretty short, and no one got a hold of the fast and medium pace bowlers," he explained.
Pakistan's captain Inzamam-ul-Haq paid credit to Smith, Powell et al. Noting that the pitch helped the seamers, he acknowledged that "the West Indian bowlers bowled a very good line and length." He felt that the wicket would have helped Shahid Afridi. "The team certainly did miss him and other players," the despondent captain told reporters on Tuesday. Pakistan is without Afridi – serving a four match ban for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the recent South Africa tour – and fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif who are nursing injuries.
Inzamam-ul-Haq chided his batsmen for not reaching what he said was a gettable score. "It wasn't difficult to bat on this wicket, the wicket was perfectly fine. It's just that we had to stay and consolidate our position in the first 15 overs which we didn't. But the wicket played absolutely fine. We should have really got the runs," he said through an interpreter.
With this victory, the West Indies will carry forward two crucial points into the Super Eight round, to assist them in their quest to reach the semi-final stage and given them a shot at being finalists…and eventual winners.
Bob Woolmer said on Monday that it was "an honour" to be invited to play the hosts in the first match of the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Hosts are supposed to treat their visitors hospitably, welcome them graciously and ensure that they are well looked after.
In this regard, the West Indies were not good hosts. No one will chastise them for that failure.