Some backbone at last

The series between West Indies and England sandwiched an enormous amount of dogged, laborious cricket between an astonishing beginning and a palpitating end. The magic dust of the morning of the fourth day of the first Test sprinkled the rest with the promise of more sorcery, and though the days were mainly long, hot and slow going, enough grams of it hung about the grounds to keep spectators going. True, there were more English than West Indian supporters, particularly in Antigua and Barbados, but there was something for everyone, and it wasn't long before watchers of all persuasions sniffed out a competition they had not expected.

A look at the series cannot ignore the tomfoolery that passed for cricket management at the Viv Richards Stadium for the second Test. As much as we would like to put it behind us, the series has ended with nary a word of the consequences that should follow such acts of gross negligence and incompetence. But the shameful abandonment of the match affected watchers more profoundly, it seemed, than it did the players. Resolutely they gathered at the ARG and the game was on in a salutarily short time, and for many the question was why the ARG was abandoned in the first place, when all it seemed to need was proper maintenance.

After the Sabina Park victory, the series became a source of celebrations at many levels. It might be worth the time to consider: what really were West Indians celebrating? It was a lifting of spirits over a series that went on longer in terms of days and matches, and yielded more tension and repetitiveness, than anticipated.

What set it all up was Jerome Taylor at Sabina. England at 51 all out never recovered, no matter how doggedly they pursued the task. And they were dogged. Poor Andrew Strauss rose with his bat throughout, but never yielded at the right moment, never took the gambler's chance, and found his coaches turning back into pumpkins promptly at stumps at the end of each overdrawn match.

He was relying on a West Indies history that suggested a will so weakened that it would be daunted into easy capitulation by massive totals. Perhaps he was guilty of underestimating the team in his anxiety to prepare for the Ashes. Certainly West Indies played more resolutely than recent memory would have predicted, but then the pitches were so placid that all batsmen rejoiced.

These were high-scoring games on account of the pitches, and without detracting from the honest scoreboard's recognitions of feats and records, so many centuries were notched that any batsman who missed out simply hadn't the belly to stick to the task or was undone by the controversial referral system, which has bemused more than clarified cricket decisions.

Bowling suffered during these games. Fidel Edwards looked pumped up and was putting something of a snort into most deliveries, but often he seemed frustrated by the unresponsive pitches. Taylor shone as promised but then was pulled up short by injury; he too might have lost zeal due to the dull surfaces. Sulieman Benn was curiously dropped for the final match, and one had to wonder if West Indies' use of eight bowlers in the first innings was not a silent protest by the captain at the limp options on offer.

The atmosphere was pallid and listless, and as it seemed in the other matches, the fielding lacked winners' intensity. Dwayne Bravo was terribly missed, sparkling as he did whenever he was on the field. It didn't seem that England should have been allowed to repeat the formula that applied throughout this series: two days of batting and a formidable score, then West Indies go in and match it, before the last day petered out in a draw.

Yet it was Test cricket of a different sort, at least for West Indies, who have come a long way if you consider that the last celebration was over the fact that they could last the five days of a match. What we have seen different is that they've learned how to survive. They've learned some measure of perseverance.

Two figures behind the scenes who may have contributed to this new capacity to go to the wire are the coach, John Dyson, under whose watch fitness seems to have improved. It was most obvious in the fruition of Ramnaresh Sarwan, who deserved his Man-of-the-Series award. Sarwan was beautiful to watch (as was Kevin Pietersen), and it was as if he had come to the maturity that his potential has promised - for some seemingly long but actually short years. Denesh Ramdin looked as if he had been finally given a shaking and some of his cobwebs were beginning to be shredded. Maybe his fitness has reached the point where his capacity to concentrate has improved.

The other figure is the manager, Omar Khan, who has had a very good track record with Trinidad and Tobago, and I believe has contributed significantly to the general approach to the game, as well as to the sense of camaraderie and support.

Chris Gayle, people say, inspires his team by being more one of them. It is clear that he is able to keep tension levels down as far as interactions go. Remember how incensed Edwards seemed when Gayle declared and Edwards had to drop his pads and go out and warm up quickly in Barbados? But Gayle got him to cool down and deliver in those high-energy spells he delivered right before the close of play.

Players who really shone, for me, would be Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Gayle, Taylor, Edwards, Benn and Brendan Nash. Ramdin improved. Gayle and Chanderpaul were basically the same; the others seemed to stride forward a few important notches.

The return of the Wisden Trophy was something to celebrate. Hopefully it will not be lost when England hosts West Indies in a couple of months, but the possibility is that an entirely new set-up will be faced on different surfaces, and injured English players will have returned to the fold.

A couple of interesting dilemmas arose again. Should West Indies, as Ian Bishop and Michael Holding keep imploring, set up continuous fast-bowling clinics? Or should they be bowling clinics that equally nurture both spin/slow and fast?

Why were the pitches as flat as they were? Should West Indies be investing in developing the pitch quality that seems to survive in Australia? The global complaint has been about dead pitches: batsmen's havens that have reduced the value of runs and taken away the element of excitement that genuinely good fast bowling injects. Is this widespread trend of flat pitches something to be accepted or railed against?

I'd always vote for watching a match that gives something to bowler and batsman. We saw thousands of runs scored in this series, but you have to admit that the thrills were muted on account of the pitches. Poor fielding and bizarre referral results didn't do anything to add to the games, but all in all it seemed the teams had met their match, and surely, given their positions in the rankings, that must be a comfort to one and a whole heap of worries to the other.