Bellerive banquet can be Windies' redemption

HOBART - This will be the best, and probably last, chance for the West Indian batsmen to find redemption.

For batsmen, the restorative powers of Bellerive Oval, where the Windies and Australia A begin their four-day match tomorrow, is unequalled.

At its worst, the wicket provides a little movement early on the first day and occasionally the ball doesn't come on quite as quickly as strokemakers would like.

But most of the time it's a superhighway that even the most paranoid of batsmen soon realise is without guile - a strip that good players, even when down on form, can feast upon.

Take England opener Michael Atherton, who came to the equivalent match two seasons ago with an average of 18 from the first three Tests and, with the added advantage of a depleted Australia A attack, promptly hit 210 not out.

Or last season. The vultures were starting to circle Justin Langer when he came to Bellerive for the second Test against Pakistan.

The No.3 made 127 and with Adam Gilchrist carried Australia to the most improbable victory of its record winning streak.

So it's difficult to believe that so fine a batsman as Brian Lara, though his current Test form is even more dire than Atherton's and Langer's were, won't rediscover some of his magic.

Promising news for the Windies batsmen means, however, discouraging news for their bowlers.

Most of the Australia A batsmen have banqueted here.

Tasmanian oppener Jamie Cox, in four first class innings on his home ground this season, has scored 106, 128 not out, 87 and 87.

Western Australian teammates Damien Martyn and Simon Katich, who'll be staging their own private contest for Steve Waugh's position in the Third Test team, made 122 and 90 and 38 and 152 respectively in a Pura Cup match last month.

Lara and company, however, should remember that the rehabilitative benefits are of variable duration.

Langer went on to Perth and scored another century in the third Test, becoming player of the series. In his next Test, Atherton got a pair.