Still not a spinner! (3 March 1999)

3 March 1999

Still not a spinner!

Tony Cozier

Nothing has marked the changing face of world cricket quite so pointedly as the shift from speed to spin as the most effective method of attack.

And nothing has characterised the accelerating decline of the West Indies more than the anachronistic adherence to the policy of pure pace.

It has been perpetuated in the selection for the first Test against Australia, starting on Friday. There are six fast bowlers and not a single spinner among the 15 who assembled in Port-of-Spain yesterday for the toughest home test the West Indies have arguably ever had.

In absolute contrast, the Australians are certain to carry both their leg-spinners, Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill, in their XI.

As Steve Waugh noted, with understandable satisfaction after they had spun the President's XI to an innings defeat at Guaracara Park on Monday, Warne and his dangerous new accomplice make a rare combination.

If they were available to Mike Findlay and his colleagues, they would surely be in even their team come Friday.

The doubt would have been whether they could have been originally encouraged as Warne and MacGill have been by their selectors.

The treatment of West Indian spinners is best exemplified by leg-spinner Rajindra Dhanraj's career four Tests - one a series, each in a different country. None has played two consecutive Tests since off-spinner Clyde Butts more than ten years ago.

Carl Hooper's unavailability has affected the balance of the bowling that will miss his off-spin as much as it has the middle-order batting. His 15 wickets, and his association with Dinanath Ramnarine's leg-spin in two victorious Tests, played a distinct part in the 3-1 triumph over England last season.

Ramnarine's damaged shoulder has also put him out of action, yet no one has been chosen as cover in case they turn up at the Queen's Park Oval on Friday morning and Bryan Davis advises them they need a spinner.

If that is the case, they will have to fall back on the reluctant left-arm spin of Jimmy Adams, who has bowled himself a mere 22 overs in six Busta Cup matches this season.

Yet there were a host of spinners, of all types and ages, with strong recommendations from the Busta Cup they could have called on.

Meanwhile, the Australians are delighting in the development of their spin twins, captain Waugh going as far as placing MacGill in the same elevated bracket as Warne.

"He's a once-in-a-generation spinner, too," Waugh said. "We're lucky to have two - if it makes sense - in one generation. It mightn't happen in 50 years that you get one. We've got two at once, so we're really lucky."

And he just about confirmed that both would be on the board come Friday.

"They're two different types of spinners," Waugh said here. "They work really well together. They're different flight, different variation, so I don't think it's any big deal playing two leggies. You play two quicks, or two outswing bowlers, so why not two leggies?"

"I think in Test cricket you should play your best bowlers, and they should be able to handle any conditions in front of them," he said after the Guaracara victory.

"You should play your four best bowlers, and all reasonable indications are that our best four are the four who played here."

The West Indies don't reckon there is a spinner among their best four and have chosen none.

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)