Reasons to be cheerful

Shivnarine Chanderpaul: typically wooden and unimaginative © Getty Images

Leading up to the three-Test series between the West Indies and Australia, there had been no evidence to suggest any sort of West Indian victory was possible.

The reasonable hope was that there would be a competitive performance, enough to show that spirits hadn't flown. A more reasonable expectancy was that Brian Lara would surpass the world record for the most Test runs. That was to be. Desperately ignoring blatant signs, some focused on a recent tradition that the West Indies would come from behind in the last Test and stave off a whitewash with scintillating heroics. That was not to be.

The business element of contracts - still only tenuously resolved - hovered cynically before the games began, producing a team thought to have split loyalties. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the captain, would have had to generate outstanding leadership qualities and techniques to convince that he was an acceptable replacement for Lara. That was not to be.

Chanderpaul was typically wooden and unimaginative, and this was especially pronounced in the final Test when the come-from-behind thesis threatened to be proven. Getting Australia at a promising 295 for 8, largely due to the spirited and intelligent performance of Dwayne Bravo that yielded six wickets, Chanderpaul remained stuck in a manifestly unworkable game plan that allowed Michael Hussey his second century, and removed any prospect of a Windies win. Will it be the last straw for his captaincy? Difficult to say as it is still unclear what criteria was used by the selectors in the first place. His vice captain, Ramnaresh Sarwan, never seemed motivated or focused enough to play carefully, and the only flash of inspiration for him came after Lara had scored 226, but then he was undone by one of the dubious umpiring decisions that plagued this game.

An unacceptably high number of batting casualties were linked to poor umpiring, and the West Indies Cricket Board and the captain will have to find some aggressive ways to pursue this matter. The decisions were especially exasperating to a cricket world that was denied the pleasure of watching Lara bat three times during the series. Overtaking Allan Border's record was inevitable, and although his unfortunate record for suffering at the hands of umpires caused him to tarry a while, it did not deflect. Rather it revealed magnitude of character; the ennobling sight of a man rising above the petty reminding modernity of the barely recalled spirit of the game.

Dwayne Bravo: exceptional © Getty Images

West Indies' bowling continued to be inconsistent throughout the series, although Corey Collymore and Dwayne Bravo were exceptional and there was some relief that Australia did not have to close all their innings with a declaration. Senior batsmen failed to deliver but it was heartening to see the emergence of youth with promise. Denesh Ramdin, the composed wicketkeeper, and Bravo, the confident allrounder, came together on two occasions to steady the sinking ship. Bravo scored his second Test century early, and then followed up with athletic and alert fielding and penetrative bowling. In manner and spirit, he recalls the allrounder Learie Constantine, who was described as such a bundle of energy on the field that his boyish exuberance seemed to be everywhere all at once. Ramdin's reserve on the other hand, conveys a sense of mature calm and quiet resolve, invoking a sense of trust in his young wisdom.

The striking aspect common to these two young Trinidadians, perhaps beneficiaries of the training and development programmes of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board, is that they are thinking cricketers. It is this sense that thoughtful heads reside on their shoulders that inspires trust. Too many of the batsmen were out carelessly and thoughtlessly, setting themselves up for Australian bait, and unless they apply critical thinking to their game, they are only going to have momentary flashes of the brilliance they are technically able to produce.

While this is generally a young team, the result of this series demonstrates that the players need to develop the discipline to stay at the crease and construct an innings, the hardness of resolve to maintain alertness in the field even when the chips are down, and the analytical capacity to read a batsman and, as Michael Holding preaches, "keep a good line and length."

Three-nil was not too much of a surprise, a disappointment, but not an unforeseen result. Bennett King, the coach, knows he is building a new team, and it would be good if the players could join in the construction because there is much work still to be done.