West Indians end on brighter note

The once mighty West Indians have been the feature of this summer's Australian Test menu and even before they arrived, talk of a series whitewash was gaining momentum.

After all, this was more or less the same team that lost to England just months before touching down on these Antipodean shores to face Steve Waugh's worldbeaters.

At exactly one minute past two this afternoon, Australia completed the historic five-nil whitewash here at a sun-drenched Sydney Cricket Ground. The series had gone on for six weeks and it was time to acknowledge the inevitable.

The Australian players will be delighted to have stretched their world record winning streak to a fantastic fifteen, but the West Indians can also walk away from this Centenary of Federation Test match with something resembling smiles on their faces.

Although they lost by six wickets, the tourists gained a lot from this Test and can now go home on a happier note knowing that the future is not all bleak. The young batsmen who had been exposed in these harsh conditions against ruthless competitors for most of the season have, in this game, found confidence and, with it, some encouraging form.

The performances of Wavell Hinds (70 and 46) and Mahendra Nagamootoo (12, 68 and three wickets) have been impressive. Ridley Jacobs (12, 62) has done what he has been doing the entire summer - going about his job with a minimum of fuss and coming away with maximum results. And, of course, twenty year old Ramnaresh Sarwan has found his rhythm again, scoring fifty-one of his tour total of fifty-four runs from three Tests here in the second innings.

Together with Marlon Samuels, who has not had a great match here but has had a stirring tour otherwise, these four are at the core of the future of Caribbean cricket. Judging from their determination in coming back after a gruelling and dispiriting summer, West Indies could have worse cricketers to lead them back to the glory days of old. It won't happen tomorrow, or even in five years. But, with players like these, West Indian cricket is far from dead.

Early on, the portents were ominous. Pitted against Western Australia for the first of two warm-up first-class games prior to the start of the Test series, the West Indians lost their first four wickets for just twenty-nine runs. Three days later, the tourists came away with a seven wicket loss.

The following week, the team received a sound innings beating from Victoria - at that stage the bottom ranked team in the domestic first-class competition.

So, by the time the Test series began three days later, the tourists were already suffering from loss of form and confidence. With Man of the Series Glenn McGrath rampant in Brisbane, the home team won by an innings and 126 runs with two days to spare. McGrath's amazing display of 10/27 was, statistically, the best ten wicket haul in history.

Test number two in Perth followed a similar path with McGrath ripping apart the West Indian top order with a hat-trick on the first day. The lanky paceman also bagged his three hundredth Test wicket in the middle leg of the hat-trick with the wicket of celebrated foe and West Indies star Brian Lara. By five o'clock on day three, Australia had completed a record breaking twelfth successive Test victory, with the West Indians getting more desperate by day.

At a loss for an explanation, captain Jimmy Adams said after the match that all he could do was ask the players for a little consistency. With experienced batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul being forced home due to injury, Adams needed players like Lara to lead the way. However, the first two Tests saw the left-hander score just twenty-one runs from four innings.

Furthermore, their largely inexperienced bowlers were ineffective and at thirty-eight years of age, world record holder Courtney Walsh was struggling for his old zing. And to top it all off, their young batsmen - especially the likes of Daren Ganga and Sarwan - were at a low ebb.

With murmurs of a psychologist being summoned, the West Indians were really in a wretched state and in dire need of a flash of inspiration. And who better to produce it than their brightest star, Lara?

With Adam Gilchrist at the helm for Australia in absence of the injured Waugh, Lara set about single-handedly lifting his team during the Third Test in Adelaide, scoring a blazing 182. Lara, who had been dogged by rumours linking his performance to the presence in Australia of his lingerie model girlfriend, produced a fine performance again in the second innings.

His seasoned display was neatly juxtaposed against the refreshing batting of teenage debutant Samuels and the team from the Caribbean were at least looking like a competitive force. Still, with journeyman off spinner Colin Miller bagging a ten-wicket haul for the match, Australia again finished on top; this time, by five wickets.

In Melbourne, the West Indian batsmen seemed to revert back to their form at the start of the tour, with Jason Gillespie and McGrath not conceding a run off he bat until the forty-seventh ball at the start of their second innings. As always, the Australians received ample support from the batsmen, with Waugh striking his twenty-third Test century.

So brilliant in Adelaide just a week before, Lara scored just sixteen in his two innings, and his team fell 352 runs short.

The breathtakingly clinical performance of the Australians throughout this series reflects what these tourists were like twenty years ago. For the sake of world cricket, it is to be hoped that the young West Indians can recapture some of the old magic sooner rather than later. At least this Fifth Test will give them heart and encouragement on the long road back.

As for this awesome Australian team, not much remains to be said. One glance at the summer's scorecards will tell the story to anyone who wants to know. Steve Waugh knows his team's winning streak will end eventually but also knows that his men have raised the bar in world cricket. They set foot on Test match grounds and attempt to win matches from ball one. The other teams have a fair bit of work to do if they are to match the gleam and polish of these modern day invincibles.