Walsh's time

Kingston - For those despairing over the current state of West Indies, Jamaica is the place to be.

The mood prior to the second Test against Zimbabwe, starting at Sabina Park this morning, is blatantly upbeat.

The anticipation of Courtney Walsh, the nation's most beloved sportsman, becoming Test cricket's highest wicket-taker on his home patch in front of his own people has been heightened by the extraordinary West Indies' victory in the first Test in Port-of-Spain on Monday and by the presence in the XI of five Jamaicans, among them the new captain, Jimmy Adams.

Walsh admitted yesterday that being as close as five wickets to surpassing Kapil Dev's eight-year-old standard of 434 'sometimes gives me goose pimples'.

There will be far more visible signs of emotion among the always passionate Jamaicans at Sabina when - no one is even considering if - he reaches the goal in this match.

'If it has to happen here, it would be like a dream come true, something very special,' Walsh said yesterday.

'It means a lot just walking around and hearing the support I get, everyone urging me on and wanting me to do it.'

Walsh has endeared himself to his fellow Jamaicans and to cricket followers around the world as much by his down-to-earth modesty and his sporting decency as by his skill and his unwavering commitment to every team he has played for - Jamaica, the West Indies and English county Gloucestershire.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) had long since dedicated the Test to him and announced that US$1 would go to his benefit fund for every ticket sold.

It was not surprising to learn yesterday that every one has been, representing a windfall of around US$30 000 for the match for Walsh.

There is also to be a dinner in his honour, one in a sequence to be held throughout the Caribbean during the coming weeks.

At 37, he declares himself as keen as ever after more than 15 years of international cricket. This will be his 113th Test. Only Kapil Dev (131) among fast bowlers played more; only Viv Richards (121) and Desmond Haynes (116) of West Indians.

He, and the other fast bowlers, are unlikely to be favoured by the pitch as they were at the Queen's Park Oval. Sabina's is hard and entirely devoid of grass. On the evidence of the season's Busta Cup, it should be easy for batting and, if anything, offer a little turn.

The Walsh story has, inevitably, taken precedence over the Test itself. Adams and all of the team accepts that, but the match is still the main purpose of the exercise.

Now that the euphoria of Port-of-Spain has abated, it is back to reality.

To be dismissed for 187 and 147, without one batsman passing 50, by an attack with only one bowler with over 100 Test wickets to his name emphasised the woeful state of the batting.

Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and the bowlers cannot, and should not, be expected to bail them out every time.

It is as much a matter of confidence as of technique, both of which are in short supply.

Adams made the valid point yesterday that the dramatic turnaround on the last day in Port-of-Spain will have a beneficial effect on all aspects of West Indies' game.

For that reason, the selectors last night retained the same XI from the first. But it still appears dangerously unbalanced with a preponderence of left-handers, all with similar styles, the absence of a single dominant batsman and a tail that starts at No.8.

Zimbabwean captain Andy Flower and coach David Houghton have both commented on how difficult it will be to motivate their charges, limited at the best of times.

They have had only three victories in their 40 Tests to date and will hardly again have one so firmly in their grasp.

They might be heartened by two instances from the recent Queen's Park Oval past.

When England were routed for 46 in 1994 and the West Indies for 51 by Australia last year, they both proceeded to win the next Test.

Such a transformation would be an immediate, and serious, setback for West Indies cricket - whether Walsh reaches his goal over the next five days or not.