Lara on the spot (26 December 1998)

26 December 1998

Lara on the spot

By Tony Cozier in Durban

The West Indies are invoking the spirit of a Christmas past to help lift their morale for the critical Third Test against South Africa, starting here today.

Faced with the chastening reality that another defeat will eliminate them from the series and lead to repercussions too grave to contemplate, they are recalling a similar desperate situation in Australia two years ago.

They were then 2-0 down with three to play, as they are now, but kept their hopes alive by winning the traditional Boxing Day Test in Melbourne by six wickets within three days.

That revival was not unexpected. They had turned around a depressing sequence of seven straight losses with victories over Pakistan in the three-way World Series limited-overs tournament and over Victoria immediately prior to the Test while Curtly Ambrose, always a key to the mood of the team, boldly announced that he would take 10 wickets and the West Indies would win.

So said, so done. True, Ambrose fell short by one on his personal promise, finishing with nine wickets for 72, but victory was duly achieved by six wickets. The vibes were positive and there was an unmistakable feeling of optimism.

It quickly passed. Undermined by Ambrose's injury that kept him out of the Fourth Test, they were slaughtered by an innings and 183 runs and so left the Frank Worrell Trophy behind.

This time, there are no glad tidings to report although, in the essence of the season, there must still be faith and hope. Perhaps the effects of defeat in a series so vital to the psyche of Caribbean people-and, as has been repeatedly restated, black South Africans as well-will serve as the necessary stimulant for a side that has seemed not to fully appreciate such factors.

Unlike Melbourne, it needs no bold promise from Ambrose for he and his enduring partner, Courtney Walsh, have performed above and beyond the call of duty in the preceding two Tests.

Between them, they have bowled 175.1 overs, compared to 117.5 sent down by their teammates, and taken 26 wickets, as against seven by the others. They have repeatedly sent back South African batsmen early and restricted them to manageable totals.

The catalyst for a revival now must come from the batsmen who, as so often over the past three years, have disastrously let them down. They touched rock bottom in the Second Test, scraping together a miserly grand total of 262 runs and existing for 37.3 overs in one innings and 38.2 in the other against disciplined, but not unplayable, bowling on a helpful, but not impossible, pitch. It is now payback time and the debit on account is sizeable.

No one owes more than Brian Lara whose standing as batsman supreme and captain extraordinaire are now seriously on the line.

It would take no more than one magical innings from him to turn things around. The sight of their captain destroying Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and the other South Africans who have been such bogey men so far would instantly transform the gloom that has increasingly enveloped the West Indies's dressing room into renewed confidence.

The very bat that he uses, a "Lara 375", is a constant reminder in his hands of his most famous innings and of what he is capable. But the effect of what was an even more brilliant performance, his awesome 277 against Australia at Sydney six years ago, is more relevant.

The new-look West Indies, without Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Malcolm Marshall and Jeffrey Dujon, had barely scraped a draw in the First Test and had folded to the young Shane Warne to lose the second. Facing a big Australian total of 503, they were two down for 31 when Lara entered. On his own, he shifted the actual and psychological balance of the series that the West Indies eventually won win 2-1.

This is a different Lara, of course, more complex than the carefree 23-year-old he was then, subsequently distracted by the sudden fame and fortune that followed his phenomenal records of 1994 and burdened by one self-inflicted controversy after another.

But his rare, God-given talent has not vanished and there were fleeting glimpses of it in the second innings of the Second Test. In the interim, he has taken a break from the middle to prepare himself for a match so vital for West Indies cricket and for him personally.

The next five days are, without stretching the point, the most important of his young, complex life.

The example was set for Lara and everyone else in the side by Shivnarine Chanderpaul last weekend in the friendly environment of Alexandra Park in Pietermartizburg.

No one recognises the value of spending time at the crease more than the steadfast left-hander and his 182 against South Africa "A", spread over three days and six hours, 20 minutes, was a model of the discipline and commitment required of Test match cricketers against opponents as mentally tough and unyielding as the South Africans.

According to chief groundsman, Phil Russell, the former Derbyshire county cricketer, the pitch at Kingsmead should be far more acceptable than those in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth that were too difficult for batting to be considered worthy of Test cricket.

Chanderpaul's 74 has been the highest score so far in the series, a damning statistics. It is time for a change-in every respect.

South Africa (from): Hansie Cronje (Capt), Gary Kirsten, Hershcelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Daryll Cullinan, Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Pat Symcox, Allan Donald, David Terbrugge and Paul Adams.

West Indies (likely): Brian Lara (Capt), Philo Wallace, Clayton Lambert, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Carl Hooper, Stuart Williams, Ridley Jacobs, Nixon McLean, Curtly Ambrose, Franklyn Rose and Courtney Walsh.

Source :: The Trinidad Express (https://www.trinidad.net/express/)