The last hurrah, the last laugh? (5 May 1999)

5 May 1999

The last hurrah, the last laugh?

The Jamaica Gleaner

Brian Lara is confident that the West Indies can win the World Cup and with a little luck they could do so.

"You don't have to be the best team to win the World Cup, you just have to be the best on the day," said Lara a few days ago in London and that is true.

Apart from the second staging of the event in 1979 when the West Indies retained the title, the best team, according to form going into the tournament and the odds, has never won it. On top of that, one-day cricket is such that one mistake, one moment of brilliance can change the tide and in today's game, the teams, the top seven or eight, are so closely matched that despite the odds favouring South Africa and then Australia, Pakistan, England, the West Indies, India and Sri Lanka, possibly even New Zealand who boast a good record in the Cup, must fancy their chances.

One reason why Lara believes he will be in the money, is the spirit which he says now exists in the West Indies team.

"In the past, the West Indies have relied on individual flair, but now you will see a different team," said the captain. "This is a huge event of great importance, and we will be looking to have a whole team atmosphere rather than looking at one or two people to perform."

That is great and West Indians hope that will be the case.

The pace, however, will have to be set by one, or two, or three players - by Lara himself with the bat and by Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh with the ball.

The irony of the situation is that the 36-year-old Walsh is one of the players the West Indies, including Lara, are hoping will step up, perform, and power them to victory.

It is an irony because not so long ago the fast bowler was not considered a good one-day player because of his poor fielding and throwing, his poor batting and because, on a number of occasions, he was hit for too many runs in the closing overs.

In the 1987 tournament Walsh's figures were 9.3-0-65-1 v England, 7-2-23-1 v Sri Lanka, 10-1-40-4 v Pakistan, 9-2-43-1 v Sri Lanka, 10-0-24-0 v England, and 10-1-34-2 v Pakistan and he was dropped for the next one in 1992.

According to the whispers, it was because of his poor fielding, his poor batting, and also because he had not bowled well in one-day games between the two tournaments.

Others, however, went back to Gujranwala in the previous tournament (1987) when, in the first match, he conceded 31 runs off his last two overs against England, and to Lahore when he conceded 14 off the final over against Pakistan.

Walsh was back for the 1996 tournament, and apart from the quarter-final match against South Africa, he bowled well. His figures were 10-3-27-1 v Zimbabwe, 9-3-18-0 v India, 9-0-46-3 v Kenya, 9-2-35-2 v Australia, 8.3-0-51-1 v South Africa, 10-1-33-0 v Australia, and the West Indies made it to the semi-finals for the first time since 1983.

Since then, Walsh has been an asset to the West Indies in one-day matches, and although his economy rate of 3.95 in the World Cup and 3.87 in one-day internationals up to the start of the Australia series is not as impressive as that of others like Michael Holding - 2.94 and 3.32, Malcolm Marshall - 3.08 and 3.53, Joel Garner - 3.21 and 3.09, Andy Roberts - 3.24 and 3.40, Colin Croft - 3.25 and 3.47, and Ambrose with 3.25 and 3.54, he remains an asset.

Lara is correct - the West Indies do have a chance to win the Cup and the better the team spirit, the more the other players chip in, the better their chances. It will, however, come down to the performances not only of Lara and Ambrose, but despite his continued weakness in the field and with the bat, also that of Walsh - the player who, in his prime, was not considered good enough but who, in what must be his last hurrah, could have the last laugh.

Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/)