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Carribean
Tragedy
The one time
wonder
By Sanjeeb Mukherjee
If
you ask any avid cricket lover particularly a fan of the West Indian
cricket, as to what ails the once most feared team in the world. He or she
will very definitely say that West Indian players are all one time
wonders. And this precisely summarizes the present state of West Indies
cricket team.
Every
member of the team be for that matter the indomitable Brain Lara have just
become one time wonders. A look back at the performance of the team in the
past six months will justify this claim. Starting from the home tour of
the Windies against first the Zimbabweans. Considered to be the minnows of
world cricket the Zimbabweans very easily could have upset the once mighty
Windies had it not been for the old warhorse of Ambrose and Walsh. The
same happened during the home series against Pakistan.
The
West Indian batsmen like Adrian Griffith, Campbell and Ricardo Powell were
inconsistent in their performance throughout the series. One match these
players would play a scintillating knock to fade out in the very next, a
trend, which continued in the very next, a trend which continued in the
present English tour.
Except
for the batting of Captain Jimmy Adam’s coupled with the superb bowling
of Walsh and Ambrose the Pakis could have easily triumphed. Brain Lara the
only of the recognized face in WI batting line up was grossly missed
during the series.
Nevertheless
the Windies won the series and went to England with their tails up along
with the added advantage of inclusion of Brain Lara in the team. The
series of England started on a explosive note for the Windies with Walsh
again showing the world that why he is regarding as one of the best pace
bowlers in the history of cricket to skittle out the English batsmen. West
Indies won the match comfortably while England just managed to scrap
through the second to level the series one all. The third test ended in a
draw, but it marked the return of Brain Lara into big scores. The knock of
105 that he played showed the class that can only come from Lara’s bat.
Then
came the fourth test at Headingly which again showed ‘why WI players
particularly their batsmen are called one – one time wonders. In the
second innings none of the batsmen except for the newcomer Ramnaresh
Sarwan could stand-up against the pace of Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick.
You could never expect Lara to perform always. West Indies was all out for
a mere 61 to give the English team a one-match lead. While the fifth and
final test is to began shortly the West Indian cricket authorities have to
give a serious thought to their team composition and evaluate the
performance of the new players. Every win in the West Indian cricket
history of past six months can be attributed to the fearsome duo of Walsh
and Ambrose, who at the ripe age of 35 plus showed exemplary accurate line
and length and were regularly picking up wickets throughout the series.
Infact in between them Walsh and Ambrose captured nearly 90 percent of the
English wickets that felt. None of the other pace bowlers like Reon King,
Franklyn Rose or Nixon Mclean could match the class of Walsh or Ambrose.
As a matter of fact the new West Indian pace bowlers are being only
included in the test squad to give rest to Walsh and Ambrose from their
bowling spells. The second test was lost by West Indies just because of
one over by Franklyn Rose where he gave as many as 13 runs to turn the
tide in favour of England.
The
batsmen too failed to bring about consistency in their performance. Now
the big question that is being asked by every West Indian cricket fan what
will happen to the West Indian bowling after the likes of Ambrose and
Walsh retire from the scene. So much so that Sir Vivian Richards has even
asked Curtly Ambrose to defer his retirement plans for the benefit of West
Indian cricket. Same can be said about their batting also in the absence
of Lara there is not one single batsman who can shoulder the
responsibility of carrying the team’s batting. The opening and middle is
particularly very weak giving the opposition a chance to exploit it.
Though the new players have ample talent but they have been not able to
show them. Sooner or later the West Indies cricket team has to come out of
the shadows of Walsh, Ambrose and Lara to regain its past glory. For that
present Captain Jimmy Adams is the right man to lead. His body language in
the field shows grit and determination, which is the only silver lining of
the mighty Carribean team.
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