da esoccer bet： The most damning comment as the West Indies started their secondinnings in the final Test in the gloom of Monday afternoon camethrough the television stump microphone from an unidentified voice inthe Zimbabwean slips
da bet vitoria： Tony Cozier02-Aug-2001The most damning comment as the West Indies started their secondinnings in the final Test in the gloom of Monday afternoon camethrough the television stump microphone from an unidentified voice inthe Zimbabwean slips.Hey, let’s go, these boys really know how to lose, it said.It was one of those gibes that are typical of international cricketthese days and was utterly incongruous coming from someone on a teamthat had been trounced by an innings in the first Test only a weekearlier and couldn’t score even 99 to win in the previous seriesbetween the teams last year.Yet it was not entirely misplaced. It came after two days in which theWest Indies had undone all the admirable advances made on the tourwith cricket well below Test standard.The West Indies were at the start of an innings attempting to save amatch that, after two days, they held firmly in their grasp. They ledby 216 on first innings and had already removed one of the openers for27.What happened next was a repetition of the sudden lapses intomediocrity that have caused so much distress of late.Zimbabwe, without their finest batsman, Andy Flower, and another ofconsiderable experience, Stuart Carlisle, piled up the highest totalthey have ever made in nearly ten years of Test cricket, 563 for ninedeclared.Hamilton Masakadza, a 17-year-old schoolboy on debut, with realpromise but limitations in technique and experience, helped himself toan historic hundred. Craig Wishart (Test average 16) would have gotone too but he ran himself out and so might Andy Blignaut (highestTest score 35) except for a worthless stroke at 92.To see Reon King and Marlon Black relieve the pressure almost everytime they came on with an over of dross was disturbing enough. Towitness King’s efforts in the field and Courtney Browne’s behind thestumps were simply embarrassing at this level of the game.The cancer soon spread, as it invariably does, and the entire effortwas affected.It was nothing new. The West Indies would probably not have lost, evenwithout the assistance of the weather, but to have allowed things tohave reached such a sorry pass rekindled some unsettling memories.Christ Church, December 1999, when a first day 282 for one wastransformed in defeat by New Zealand by nine wickets, immediatelycomes to mind.So does Lord’s last year when the euphoria of an innings victory inthe first Test and a first innings lead of 133 were undermined by theafter-tea collapse on the second day to 54 all out against England.Another is Kensington in April against South Africa when a possibledefeat sprung up from nowhere in the last session of the match and ledto demeaning, time-wasting tactics to avoid it.Such aberrations appeared to have been expunged in Zimbabwe,admittedly against moderate opposition. A young team responded to apotentially crippling succession of injuries with genuine spirit.Even when they found themselves 47 for five against India in thetriangular One-Day series, they rallied to 169 for seven instead ofcapitulating as had been the habit.Given little chance in the triangular final against an Indian teamthat had comfortably won all four qualifying matches, they disregardedthe supposed disadvantage of losing the toss and batting first in theearly morning to take the Coca-Cola Cup.Their victory was the first in five multi-team tournaments in the pasttwo years. It was achieved through bold, confident tactics not seenfor some time from those in the maroon uniforms.In the first Test, they punished Zimbabwe’s carelessness withrefreshing efficiency. A record opening partnership between DionEbrahim and Alistair Campbell held them up in the second innings, butthey kept their focus and quickly completed the job once it was brokenwith incisive bowling and outstanding catching.Over the first two days of the second Test, the same intensityprevailed. Why it should have so quickly disintegrated is a matter forthe urgent attention of captain Carl Hooper and coach Roger Harper.They must know that every one of the XI has to be at or near his bestat all times for this is not a team yet blessed with a majority ofgreat players. Those who don’t pull their weight, in whatever they do,and even if they are only a couple, drag the others down with them.There should be no place for them.It was a tour that was the making of Chris Gayle as the high-classbatsman he has seemed capable of being since he was a teenager. He wasunrecognisable as the flashy strokeplayer who kept South Africa’sslips and gully on their toes in the previous series in the Caribbean.That did not happen by chance. It was the result of diligent work anddiscipline. He got closer to the ball and was prepared to letpotential danger pass outside off-stump.It did not diminish the power of his clean-hitting or his appetite forbig scores. Muralitharan and turning pitches will pose differentproblems on his next learning experience in Sri Lanka but he has shownthe ability to adapt, the hallmark of all the best players.Ramnaresh Sarwan batted with flair and confidence, as did MarlonSamuels, but Sarwan ran himself out again in sight of a hundred, afigure both young batsmen are yet to attain in West Indies colours.They won’t assert themselves as they are capable of doing until theymake that breakthrough.As Gayle developed as a batsman, so did Colin Stuart as the best fastbowler by far. He might not have got his chance but for the injuriesthat sent Merv Dillon and Cameron Cuffy home early, but he generatedreal pace from his strong action, bowled wicket to wicket, was seldomshort and gave of his all every time, all the time.It is an example Ridley Jacobs has set since he finally made it intothe team nearly three years ago.The effect of his absence as a player was conspicuous in the lastTest, especially since the selectors dilly-dallying over sendingBrowne out earlier, denied the replacement keeper a chance of anymatch practice.
