Battle royal expected at the Oval (26 March 1999)

26 March 1999

Battle royal expected at the Oval

Tony Becca

BRIDGETOWN - The Cable and Wireless series for the Frank Worrell Trophy moves into top gear at Kensington Oval today with the West Indies and Australia, locked at 1-1, gunning for the victory which could decide the four-match contest.

The stage is set for a battle royal over the next five days between two arch-rivals on a pitch which has produced only one stalemate in the past 10 Tests played on it.

With the odds favouring victory for one or the other, it should be action from start to finish - especially with both teams having something to prove.

Starting the series as unofficial world champions and rousing favourites to win, Australia, after nailing the home team for a record low 51 and winning the first Test so comfortably and then losing the second by an equally decisive margin, have to demonstrate the stuff of which champions are made. They have to prove they can bounce back from adversity - that they are still not dazed by Brian Lara's brilliance at Sabina Park.

For the West Indies, after losing 5-0 to South Africa, after losing the first Test in this series, and after recovering from 34 for four to win the second and snap a six-match losing streak, they have to prove that the victory was not a fluke and that it is the beginning of a revival.

According to news coming out of their camp, Australia seem determined to go to battle with an unchanged team.

It is possible, however, that Australia will make at least one change with either pacer Adam Dale or pacer/offspinner Colin Miller coming in for legspinner Stuart MacGill. Yesterday, after a long net session at Wanderers, captain Steve Waugh said: "You never know. You will see tomorrow."

The West Indies are hiding nothing. Shivnarine Chanderpaul is unfit and was not considered, Carl Hooper is back, left-hander Adrian Griffith will open the innings with Sherwin Campbell and, despite the local pressure to include pacer Corey Collymore in a four-pronged pace attack, the selectors appear set to stick with the attack of veteran pacers Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, left-arm swing bowler Pedro Collins and offspinner Nehemiah Perry.

According to news coming out of the Windies camp, there is a temptation to go in with four pacers because the Kensington pitch traditionally favours fast bowlers, because young Collymore has been bowling well, and because Hooper is back and can support the pacers with his offspin.

The temptation will probably be ignored, however not only because Kensington is not as fiery as it used to be but also because Perry bowled well while taking five wickets in the second innings at Sabina Park and also because Australia's batsmen are suspect against good offspin bowling.

In the final analysis, it may not matter whether Australia, still the betting favourites, make any changes or not or who wins the toss and what he does or how the pitch plays. When all is said and done, the important factor is Lara.

If Lara, the inspiration of the West Indies batting, fails, the Windies could be back to square one. If he reproduces the brilliance with which he dazzled the fans while spanking Glenn McGrath and company for a match-winning 213 in the second Test, Australia, always suspect under pressure, may leave the lion's den battered and bruised - their pride severely dented, their reputation as the world's best, tarnished.

Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/)