Steve Waugh takes control as the West Indies wilt

Overall, the first three hours of the first day were good for the West Indies. At 105-4, Australia looked vulnerable. The West Indies had achieved some good results, with uncharacteristic help from the Australian batsmen. From a technical point of view, however, the West Indian fast bowlers, except Courtney Walsh, were not really as good as the score suggested.

In every over from Nixon McLean, Merve Dillon and even the Test debutante Colin Stuart, there were at least two bad deliveries. In some overs, there were as many as four of these stinkers. When the part-time off-spinner Marlon Samuels was used, he too got the treatment, since he too was off-line.

The Australian batsmen, especially Steve Waugh, took toll by hitting almost all of these bad balls for boundaries. Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and later Adam Gilchrist seemed to have made the decision that despite the early West Indian success, all they had to do was to "take on" the bowlers, thus putting the pressure back on the fielding team. Simply, it worked.

To be perfectly honest, only one of the five Australian batsmen dismissed in the first two sessions was out to a good ball. Indeed, the best ball of the day, from Dillon to Slater, did not take a wicket, though it should have done. The ball moved away a bit from the batsman, with some extra bounce and was edged to, and badly dropped by, Sherwin Campbell at second slip.

The actual dismissals were more from the batsmen's impatience and perhaps impertinence than anything else. The Australian batsmen seemed to be taking the West Indies bowling somewhat for granted, perhaps showing their uninhibited, "holiday" side.

The reality of the West Indies bowling attack was that it was much too wayward for this level of cricket. The Australians seemed to relish the less than consistent stuff served up. Between lunch and tea, 101 runs were scored: much too many and much too quickly.

Michael Slater played as if his Christmas eggnog was well spiced. He seemed hell bent on aggression, and probably could have been out with every delivery that he faced. It was Matthew Hayden who was the first to go though, slashing at a wide Courtney Walsh delivery.

It was one of those days when poor deliveries garner even poorer strokes. Hayden, Slater, Langer, Ponting and Bichel should all be embarrassed by their dismissals. Only Mark Waugh could claim that he got a very good delivery, one that bounced from Merve Dillon. The West Indian fast bowlers, though, may suggest that any delivery that takes a wicket is a good one.

The West Indian selection for this fourth Test was disappointing. Worse, it made no sense. One gets the impression that the West Indies are playing cricket by numbers, not with a plan.

All of the West Indian fast bowlers, except Courtney Walsh, have underachieved badly. Yet, when called upon to make a decision between the fourth fast bower and the lone spinner, Mahendra Nagamootoo, the fast bowler was preferred. Stranger still, a new fast bowler, Colin Stuart, was used to replace the almost new Marlon Black.

Before this fourth Test, Nixon McLean had played 16 Test matches, claiming only 33 wickets, at the very ordinary average of 42.30. McLean's strike rate (balls used for each wicket) is even more horrendous: 76.1. Black, the young fast bowler who made his Test debut in the first Test at Brisbane, has so far played three Tests, taking six wickets at an average of 42.83 and a strike rate of 67.0. While not special, Black is comparable to McLean, but since Black is still relatively new, then if someone was to be dropped from the two, that person should have been McLean.

The final comment for Day one must be about Steve Waugh, the returning Australian captain. What a champion batsman he is. When he made his 60th run, he took his Test aggregate to 8,500 runs. He now has 8,538, at an average of 50.8, and two short of his 23rd Test century. What a player to have coming in at number five.

It must be somewhat ironic that this Boxing Day, Steve made his "Second Coming" for the Australians. Having returned from the trouble with his "gluteus maximus," it was also in the corresponding game, in 1985/6, that he made his Test debut, against India.

Fifteen years later (what endurance!), he is threatening to be the champion run scorer for the world's batsmen. He already had 22 centuries and 42 fifties in his 130 Tests before this fourth Test started.

While many would probably go for Lara, with his panache, exuberance and finesse, or perhaps Tendulkar, with his concentrated methodology, if I had to select a batsman to bat for my life, then it simply has to be Steve Waugh, with his simplicity of batting: simply doggedly determined.

When Waugh came to the crease at 101-3, joining his brother Mark, Australia were in some bother. Mark soon fell, at 105-4, and then Ricky Ponting went quickly too, at 145-5. Then, the determination of Steve Waugh shone through the gloom of the afternoon.

Run for run, stroke for stroke, Steve Waugh matched Andy Gilchrist, as the pair put on 61 runs before Gilchrist went. Bichel did not last long, trying to be as adventurous as Steve Waugh. With Jason Gillespie, though, Waugh exploded, allowing Gillespie to contribute only 11 runs to their 50 partnership. He manhandled, even bullied, the West Indies attack into submission.

Roger Harper, the West Indies coach, suggested at stumps that he thought that his bowlers rated 7.0 out of 10.0 for the day's work.

This, mind you, after the bowlers had allowed an acceptable 77 runs in the first two-hour session, a brutal 101 in the second two-hour session and a humongous 117 runs in the last session. That was indeed a shelling!

Harper must be seeing a game that I did not attend. For that effort, 5.0 out of 10.00 is about the best that can be had.

What a player Steve Waugh is though; what a batsman and what a captain. He now needs only two runs to equal Viv Richards tally in Tests, and two runs for his 23rd Test century.

Steve Waugh is indeed a champion cricketer!