India should play at Antigua (Early May 05)

India should play in Antigua

Antigua! Brian Lara’s world beating test scores. Antigua! Viv Richards’ fastest test hundred. Antigua! Eight hundreds in a match. Antigua! The highest score to win a test match.

In spite of Antigua’s world records, watching West Indies cricket is much like following our own floundering fellahs. There’s personal brilliance, and the rare win like the Champions Trophy v/s England in ‘04 (think Natwest final v/s Eng) but little else. If we’ve got Sachin breaking records, they’ve got Lara smashing them.

Recently, the Windies lost 2-0 to SA. Before which, they were rammed by Australia and England. But hang on, there’s always the dead rubber test at Antigua – where Lara gets 400 versus the Pommies (game drawn, surprise, surprise!), where over 400 is made to beat Oz (blame the Aussies for always losing the last test, a la Mumbai v/s India), where four Windies’ batsmen score hundreds v/s the Proteas, including Bravo’s first and Gayle’s 317. The same Gayle who didn’t make it to double figures in the entire series.

Check out what Michael Holding’s friend from Michigan says: most of the batsmen in the West Indies have played 30 tests, but in fact, they’re playing the same test 30 times. At the benign, batsmen-friendly Antigua wicket Tino Best gives us a demo. Sure, he’s a tail ender, and might not have played 30 tests but he has all the trappings of a West Indian Kamikaze batsman. His team is 700 plus for 8, the game’s a dead draw but Bravo’s on the verge of his first test hundred. What does Tino Best do? He tries to smash a wide one for 6, and skies a sitter to Gibbs. Holding repeats the Michigan mantra.

Before Antigua, you had the centurion Bravo repeatedly edging widish deliveries to the slips, vice captain Sarwan giving catching practise, Gayle mistiming pulls that didn’t go beyond mid off, just like Tino Best.

Of course, the batsmen can’t achieve such great failures alone. Ever since Ambrose hung his size 14 boots along with Walsh (size unknown), the bowling has been running on empty. Off late, part time off spinner Gayle is the most successful bowler. There are 5 ft. something quickies like Fidel Edwards and Tino Best who somehow touch a cracking 90 mph. and then breakdown with a consistency that rivals Zaheer Khan. Enter medium pacers like Collymore and Bradshaw who can bowl line and length, but lack bite, so they end up playing only ODIs. Enter a new breed of fast bowlers, one every game (all fresh, young and ready to see their enthusiasm crushed). Imagine a kid like South Africa’s Zondeki (with great pace but little experience) bowling without the cover of Ntini, Nel and Pollock. You want to go to Miami and play basketball or what?

However, it’s not as bad as it sounds. It’s worse. Lara is 36, and though he’s on top of his game, how long can he go on? (think Sachin all these years) The opening slot is far from resolved – in spite of Hinds’ recent double and Gayle’s triple, these guys have done little else lately (think Indian openers pre-Sehwag and post-Sunny). Sarwan comes to the party when it’s already a party (think Yuvraj). And Chanderpaul, in spite of being the most dogged of the lot (think Dravid), lacks the imagination and inspiration of a captain (Think Inzi pre-India). There’s also wicketkeeper Browne who seldom dives for catches (think most of our keepers post-Kirmani) and scores only when the games lost so he can swing his bat like a true No. 10. (think Agarkar’s 100, and Zaheer’s 6s).

The catch for West Indian cricket is that the present eleven appears to be their best. New talent has backfired, possibly because they never got to enhance their averages at Antigua. A lot like the jam team India’s in, when even the best isn’t good enough. Of course, the ODIs versus South Africa and Pakistan are round the corner. And who knows what Antigua might have done for the West Indian morale. Certainly, Ganguly & Co can do with a shot of that Caribbean tonic.

Gauarvdigs

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