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Australia v West Indies, 3rd Test, Perth, 5th day
Chappell: 'Scoreline doesn't indicate WI fightback'
December 20, 2009
Hope for West Indies but a few problems before Australia
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Ian Chappell: The series went to Australia 2-nil but the scoreline probably isn't indicative of the way West Indies fought back. It was quite a remarkable fightback. After Brisbane you would have predicted a comfortable 3-nil victory to Australia but West Indies could have so easily won one of the next two. Eventually they went down by 30-odd runs in Perth though they gave a great fight.
What the last two matches have shown is that the Australians - as you would expect with four of their top fast bowlers out injured - is that their bowling attack is very vulnerable. The one thing that the Australians have gained form all these injuries is Doug Bollinger who has been a revelation. He was at the stumps all the time; he is at the batsmen and he gives them no peace. In fact he has bowled better than Mitchell Johnson in the two Tests he has played. Bollinger has made a case that he has got to be kept in this Australian attack.
The Australians have some problems. Nathan Hauritz didn't get a wicket in the second innings in Adelaide and he struggled here in Perth. They have got to get more penetration out of their spin bowling. Before the start of the third Test, when Chris Gayle had said the Australians are beatable he wasn't saying anything that probably wasn't that obvious. The other thing that happened with Australia with Ricky Ponting being kept under control is that it has exposed the Australian batting to an extent when they were bowled out for 150 in Perth. It showed that with Ponting struggling with his injury, they are much more vulnerable. That will pose some questions for the Australians if Ponting isn't fit for the Boxing Day Test.
It was a very interesting series in the end, what looked like it would be a dull, one-sided affair after Brisbane turned into an absolute cracker. The last two games were excellent games and West Indies really gave the Australians some fight in Perth in the second innings. They are probably ruing the fact that some of their top-order batsmen just threw their wickets away. But West Indies can walk away from this series feeling as though there is some light now at the end of the tunnel. If they can get Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards back from injury they have the basis there for a very good attack. Kemar Roach is a very fine bowler and Sulieman Benn is a good spin bowler. They need a couple of batsmen to bolster that rather fragile batting line up.
But at last for West Indies, there is some light at the end of the tunnel for the Australians there are some queries around the corner and it will be interesting to see how they handle those queries when they front up to Pakistan.
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West Indies Cricket team, well, what can you say? Yes, they played some excellent cricket but in patches and some talented players such as Barath and Roach have emerged. But unless each member of this team shed his egotistical and self-centered attitude and learn to think the game through, they would never become a winning team, doesn't matter how much talent the team possesses. Talent is one thing but the ability to think situations through and common sense is an entirely different matter. You need 352 runs to win a test match in almost seven sessions, that works out to about fifty runs a session and they had all the time to do it. What was Dowling doing playing a low percentage hook shot like that? And Sarwan, what was he doing, I mean these shots were all low percentage and was not at all necessary when time is on your side. These West Indian players need to be aware of match situations. They need to think about team and not self-interest.
Posted by takenaback on (December 20 2009, 23:54 PM GMT)Ian is right when he says the scoreline is not indicative of the way West Indies played. I would go much further than this. If West Indies had won the toss they probably would have won because Australia certainly had the best of the wicket. Sure Australia might be down a few bowlers but it doesn't really matter because all of their bowlers are of the same quality. Great bowlers don't come along frequently so they have to be patient and deal with what they have. Their batting is another question. There is no excuse as there is many fine batsmen in Australia, but to be bowled out all 150 in their second innings shows a lack of fight. This isn't the first time the new brigade have crumbled. Congratulations to West Indies and I can see a very positive future, unless of course there is some disputation. I initially agreed with Ian's criticism of Chris Gayle's commitment following his statement regarding test cricket, but I take that back as he showed fine leadership and commitment.
Posted by SatyajitM on (December 20 2009, 14:56 PM GMT)Agree to Ian that the score line doesn't indicate the closeness of the last two matches and in the second test WI was surely ahead. Also, the way they shot down Aus in Perth second innings is creditable too (a commentry on current Aus batting). I am also happy that Tony Cozier stands vindicated now. Bollinger is turning out to be pretty good but Johnson is as usual on and off. To be frank I never thought of Johnson very highly. Aus is missing the quality of Brett Lee mightily. It's sad that he may not be able to play for them anytime soon. It's ironical that inspite of the 2-0 scoreline WI has so many positives in Barath, Roach, Benn, Deonarin, Nash and above all Chris Gayle discovering himself in the longer version! Against all that Aus has just one positive; Bollinger. Also, five day test cricket is turning out to be in excellent health!
Posted by Majr on (December 20 2009, 14:06 PM GMT)When the captain gets injured or when there are many prominent ones having niggles, which are enough to keep them out of the matches, it means the luck factor is inoperation. If Australia had had the services of either Hilfenhaus or Lee, I am sure they would have done better against West Indies. Also, I found that for some reason Nathan Hauritz is not flighting the ball as he used to. I really wish he would because he is a fairly reasonable spinner when he does so. This apart he is a pretty competent batsman. I would'nt bother about his figures yet. He should do well against Pakistan. Much as I like Hussey I think it is time they bring in someone younger if only for the reason that the media has severly undermined his confidence. I think they should bring in Shaun Marsh and Phil Hughes even if the latter may still be technically inadequate against top class pace.I feel his 'go for broke style may rattle Pakistan's young brigade like Wattling and Mckintosh did in the last test recently.
Posted by Nipun on (December 20 2009, 10:25 AM GMT)A fully-in-rhythm Jerome Taylor,Fidel Edwards,Kemar Roach & Sulieman Benn seems a delicious prospect,as delicious as a batting lineup featuring Gayle,Barath/Dowlin,Sarwan,Chanderpaul,Nash,& Bravo.Adelaide & Perth were crackers.Fully enjoyed the last 2 tests :) Hope the Australia-Pakistan series will be even better :)
Posted by akpy on (December 20 2009, 09:35 AM GMT)finally, a more 'sporting' comment from ian, after dishing out loads of embarassing stuff, about ganga to be made captain, etc,. If Gayle is outspoken (i.e. when he speaks which he does very little of) that does not mean, he does not have the heart in the job which he is doing - his body language has never ever changed bcos that is him as a person. If edwards, taylor were to be there, it would have been an interesting series considering the way the aussies fared against roach !! However, full credit to the aussie team's fighting spirit as they fight with whatever team that plays and each player wants to do well whenever they get the chance. I can see most teams losing the champions trophy, india 1 day series and this one, because of the forced changes to their team, but aussies are the best at playing out of their skins with whatever team they have..a captain's dream they are.
Posted by JGuru on (December 20 2009, 09:28 AM GMT)Australia have a lot ponder over the way they played rather than feeling jubilant about the way things have gone. As Chappel rightly pointed out, Australian batting stood vulnerably exposed when Ponting had to take back seat due to injury. Though it is true that Aussie batting failed only once in all 5 innings they played, it was still enough for WI to sniff a series levelling victory. I think bowling with precision has been a great problem for Aussies of late and that is the reason why they take more time than their predecessors to finish off the matches. They were very flat apart from Bollinger when the crucial partnership was threatening to take away the game. Hauritz is an important pal of the attack and its time to have his bandwagon going. Pakistan will post a bigger challenge than WI as they have lethal fast bowlers and seasoned spinners in their ranks to trouble Oz. Aussies have the potential to be No 1 again. They have to be little more focussed to make that happen.
Posted by spiritwithin on (December 20 2009, 07:56 AM GMT)the retirement of greats like mcgrath & warne are showing in the australian team...even now australia r winning but not with da same dominance and authority as it was earlier..they lost 3 of their last 6 test series..even against WI they only somehow managed to win da 3rd tests(by 35 runs) in perth and da 2nd match was drawn..without quality spinners they cant win in india and sri lanka,and their batsman including ponting struggles in india..and in seaming condition in england they lost their last two series..they struggled to beat india last year in australia and lost in a pitch(perth) where sub continent team generally surrenders even b4 da start..and without ponting this batting lineup will struggle as can be seen from their 150 all out in perth against WI..the lofty heights which they reached earlier with warne,mcgrath,gilchrist,hayden,waugh,langer etc cant b matched in da near future by any team including australia..