Islands In The Sun

"At last, the Windies tie the Kangaroos," went a cardboard scrawlcarried around merrily by a portly, cheerful, middle-aged woman at the AntiguaRecreation Ground, St John’s. In recent years, it’s taken a combination ofspecial performances and dead rubbers to beat the Aussies in Test cricket. V.V.S.Laxman’s epic 281 and Harbhajan Singh’s haul of wickets at Kolkata, MarkButcher’s 173 not out at Leed’s, Michael Vaughan 183 at Sydney.

Another special batting effort has entered that list. In successfullyreaching a target of 418 in the fourth Test at St John’s, the West Indiesrewrote the record books for the highest fourth-innings run chase in the historyof the game. They also broke the jinx of eight consecutive Test defeats toAustralia, stretching back to 2000. Victory against a team that’s recognisedas the best in the world, whose players have a knack for getting under your skinwith their machismo must be sweet.

Perhaps, from the Windies point of view, the most satisfying aspect of thiswin was that, unlike many other such efforts -- successful and unsuccessful --in recent years, this wasn’t a one-man act staged by Brian Lara. When itmattered the most, more islanders stepped up to take on the belligerent Aussies,showing maturity and level-headedness that belied their young years.

Like Ramnaresh Sarwan. Just 21 and recently anointed vice-captain, Sarwan hadflattered to deceive through the series, doing useful impressions of our ownLaxman: ease his way to strokeful 20s and 30s before spooning up a ball thatwasn’t there to drive or miscuing a pull. In the second innings at St. Johns,he was peppered with verbals, including one particularly vicious outburst fromMcGrath, but he stood tall.

Or 20-year-old off-spinner Omari Banks. In just his second Test, Banks’induction into the big league was nothing short of a baptism by fire. Figures of3-204 on debut, and 1-62 and 2-153 in his second. At number eight in the battingorder, he proved to be the claming influence, and held up one end with thematurity of a veteran.

Or man-of-the-match Chanderpaul, a man of few words but many sparklingstrokes, who endured a broken finger to rekindle West Indian hopes after thefall of Lara’s wicket on the third afternoon with a stroke-filled century.

Enduring images from a grinding Test series, which the Aussies ran away with,though the Windies had their moments and chances. Much as St John’s will godown in cricketing lore, the cricket connoisseur will remember this series forone stirring contest that ran through the length of the series and always livedup to expectations: Brian Lara versus Australia.

At the start of the series, ‘Lara versus McGrath’ was billed as anintriguing sub-plot to an otherwise seemingly flat, if not lop-sided, match-up.Lara kept his date, but McGrath missed his for the first two Tests, as he flewback home to be with his wife, Jane, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer.The other Australians stepped in to fill the breach left by McGrath, and thereference is to more than just delivering a red, leather ball from 22 yards.

It became a predictable script. Australia would pile on the runs, then thepressure. The Windies would start to wilt, save for Lara, who seemed to revel atthe sight of Aussies bowlers. As the series wore on and old wounds started toreopen, Lara even began to revel at the prospect of provocations from theAussies. He paid the Aussies back in spades. What started as an engaging fightfor cricketing superiority degenerated into an ugly, yet highly compelling,personal scrap by the end of the series.

The animosity between Lara and the Australians goes back a long way. InFebruary 1997, in a series-deciding Test at Perth, Lara accused the Aussies ofsledging fellow opening batsman Robert Samuels, and complained to the umpires --something the Australians obviously don’t take kindly too. In the same match,when Courtney Walsh needed a runner, out strode Lara, which the Australiansconsidered to be provocative. Lara scored a century, the Windies won that Test,and the series 3-2.

Not much has changed since. Lara’s obviously a prized scalp for any team,since he’s the pivot of the Windies batting, one of the very few batsmen inthe world with the range of strokes and the attitude to turn around a game. Moreso for the Australians, against whom he has scored heavily and subjected someplayers to crude humiliations. Andy Bichel probably remembers the six fours onceLara hit of him in an over in a tour match; some like Hayden might recall theirrun-ins at Perth; many in the present side wouldn’t have forgotten hisprolific run in the 1999 series.

Along the way, tempers have frayed and words have been exchanged. Lara hassquared up with McGrath frequently, most famously in the Caribbean in 1999, whenhe thrust his helmet into the pace bowler’s face. Once again, matters seemedto go out of hand at the Antigua Test. Once again, it was the Australians whocaused the provocation, which snowballed during the course of the match,becoming a virtual free-for-all by the fourth evening.

The Windies, in a rare show of verbal aggression, adopted the Australian way,exposing the inherent contradictions in the behaviour of the Aussies. MatthewHayden made the sign of the cross on reaching his century, yet heaped a verbalbarrage on incoming and outgoing batsmen that was anything but brotherly. SteveWaugh crept in from cover to silly mid-off, ostensibly to chat up Lara, yetsmiled ruefully and pleaded innocence when approached by umpire Shepherd.

McGrath playfully taunted Sarwan, but when taunted back in return, explodedand accused the fresh-faced Sarwan of something extremely gory and sinister. Itseems that, when it comes to sledging, the Australians have a code of conduct,and it upsets them a great deal when opposing teams transgress it.

Still, even if you took away the gamesmanship, the verbal skirmishes and thebad blood between the two sides, it would take away none of the sheen from thebest contest of the series. It was riveting stuff, all the way. On one end stoodLara, a class apart, at the top of his game, a resolute mix of defence andstrokeplay. At the other end were the Australians, confident, sometimes cocky.

With their new-found preference for a five-man bowling attack, they posednumerous questions to Lara, and he seemed to have answers for most. There was apattern to each of his innings -- an imposing start, a period of consolidation,another flurry that lay designs on a big one, the breakthrough.

Although Lara ended up on the losing side, he won the battle against theAussie bowlers. Eight innings, 533 runs, an average of 67, with three fiftiesand two hundreds. That it comes without any consistent support from histeam-mates makes it even more noteworthy.

In Lara’s trials and tribulations lies another tale -- of the shambles WestIndian cricket finds itself in. Much as this historic Test win is a hugefeel-good factor, it takes more than that to consistently win matches againstthe best sides. Cricketers and administrators there often use the term"rebuilding" when talking about this current side, and it’ssomething that is presently only half-done.

The Windies batting looks good, settled and formidable; it’s the bowling,once the patented weapon of the islanders, that’s their undoing. Their bowlersin the series just haven’t looked good enough to dismiss a side twice in thespace of five days. To compound matters, their leading bowler, Jermaine Lawson,has been reported for a suspect action.

Meanwhile, cracks are showing in the Australian armour. As usual, they playedsome sparkling cricket, gunning for results, even making some bold declarationsto make a game out of it. Despite the absence of some key personnel, theymanaged to create wins on dead tracks. And in spite of retaining the FrankWorrell Trophy for Test cricket between the two sides, the powers that runAustralian cricket have some introspection to do, perhaps even walk thetightrope again with captaincy selection and address some burning issues.

Like, did they get too cocky for themselves and underestimate their opponentsby setting fourth-innings totals way less than what they could have managed? Wasthere a crying need to make the Windies start chasing 450 on the third eveningitself when they could have batted with more circumspection and given themselvesa greater margin of safety by posting a target of 500-plus?

Or, where does Waugh go from here? Despite his good batting form,increasingly the feeling is beginning to creep in that this side would ratherplay under the ebullience of Ponting than the understated aggression of Waugh.Since the transition is imminent, why not go for it now rather than wait forWaugh to hang his boots? And finally, will this bunch of cricketers ever showgrace under pressure and in defeat?