No energy, no life in Antigua

The difference this time was the continuity of something that seemed to have started during the Sri Lanka series.

Yet, in that place in my mind where events are analysed (sometimes unconsciously), I kept coming to the cautious conclusion that everyone had played in their characteristic way; so there was something else in the equation: And was that something sustainable?

Shivnarine Chanderpaul did exactly what Chanderpaul's character would, even under those extraordinary circumstances. Dwayne Bravo was typically himself, as were the others. Fidel Edwards and Darren Powell bowled with the kind of aggression we know they are capable of, perhaps because they were encouraged to see the Australians without fear blocking their eyes.

They did what we have wanted them to do and reaped the satisfaction of wickets, and by doing so took us into the second Test with a larger measure of optimism. Yet the batting was indifferent, and cost us a match that should have been the reward for four good days.

This has been the nature of the West Indies team; when the bowling and/or the fielding is true, the batting tells us lies, and vice versa. Rarely do all the elements join the chorus.

But something discernible was working on the bowlers, lifting their game, and this seemed to inspire the fielders.

So the team arrived in Antigua at the barely scuffed grounds of the Vivian Richards Stadium, buoyed by all the special juices from Sabina, and carrying confidence and the self-belief that seems diaphanous most times.

What greeted them there? They found a pitch that Garth Wattley described as "a lifeless, brown stretch of earth", adding vividly that "there was more discernible movement in molasses than off it yesterday". (Wattley was writing about the first day, and I write before the second day's play.)

To compete on this corpse, a team is selected that excludes any recognised spinners, and concentrates on pacers.

In a grand sweep, the selectors managed to deflate the momentum gained by the quicks in the previous match because they are asking them to ply their trade on a surface that will absorb all their wiles without giving anything back. Tire them out, frustrate them, maybe even test them, but certainly do not give them the support of the "other" kinds of bowlers.

They also managed to further suppress what little hope there might be for spinners having a chance on the West Indies team.

The result was a first day's play that was excruciatingly lifeless, as if the inertia of the pitch had sucked away all the energy in its precincts. Spectators could not be bothered to come, so there was no WI energy to come from off the field, as it did at Sabina. Even the fielders couldn't keep their focus, and under the circumstances, the fumbles were costly and painful to the hardworking bowlers.

Body language that had communicated passion and focus in the first Test, conveyed numbly mechanical responses by the end of the first day of the second. One wonders how much of this transformation was of the players' making and how much was wrought by external forces.

* This column is republished with permission from the Barbados Nation, where it first appeared.