Last rehearsal for West Indies (20 November 1998)

20 November 1998

Last rehearsal for West Indies

By Tony Cozier

A week into the tour and with barely over a week to go before the First Test, the West Indies encountered an unwelcome setback from the weather when they arrived in this city in the centre of South Africa yesterday.

Persistent rain from low, dark clouds accompanied the team's bus on the two-hour drive from Kimberley and did not let up for the day. Only a light workout had been planned for the afternoon but coach Malcolm Marshall scheduled an early inspection this morning to verify whether the nets at Springbok Park, venue for their four-day match against Orange Free State, starting today, will be suitable for a meaningful session.

Marshall will not be the only one keen to observe the progress of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, both bothered by contrasting and, hopefully, minor ailments.

Ambrose had a toe nail removed soon after his delayed arrival in Johannesburg and has shown in light workouts that he is no longer feeling the effects.

As essential to the attack as any bowler in current international cricket, Shane Warne not excluded, Ambrose has not had a match since the Red Stripe Bowl final in Jamaica exactly a month ago. He opted out of the intervening Wills International Cup in Bangladesh to attend to the repairs to his hurricane-damaged house in Antigua.

More than most fast bowlers, he generally needs time to build up to his best and manager Clive Lloyd said last night he would definitely play.

Walsh is less certain. He twisted an ankle on Saturday, the opening day of the previous match against Griqualand West in Kimberley and was confined to 14.2 overs. He was soon over that but has complained since of soreness in his right knee for which he is being treated by physio Dennis Waight.

Walsh, too, was absent in Bangladesh as he was in the Red Stripe Bowl so his only match practice since the English county season in late September was last Saturday's in Kimberley.

Time and again throughout his career, he has dismissed a succession of injuries as no more than minor inconveniences and performed in spite of them.

Even at 36, his powers of recovery remain remarkable and, unless he is run over by a rampaging hippopotamus from a nearby wildlife park here in the next few days, nothing will keep him from the Johannesburg Test, especially since he needs only two wickets to pass coach Marshall's West Indies record of 376 Test wickets.

Even so, it would be reassuring if he comes through nets today unscathed and can have the needed final workout against Orange Free State.

Lloyd indicated that the other players who sat out the previous match would be included here-Floyd Reifer, Junior Murray, Nixon McLean and Dinanath Ramnarine, along with Ambrose.

Ramnarine will also be closely monitored. His leg-spin added a telling new dimension to the bowling in his two Tests against England last season-significantly, both won-and an impressive performance here would make him difficult to omit in Johannesburg. It would then have to be decided how critical is his inability to throw overhand, a legacy of a lingering shoulder problem that does not affect his bowling.

Orange Free State, stronger opponents than Griqualand West, will be led by the South African Test captain, Hansie Cronje, but, as is universally the case these days, their main man, fast bowler Allan Donald, is being kept out of sight of the West Indian batsmen until the real thing.

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