West Indies plans are hit by Chanderpaul's injury (26 March 1999)

26 March 1999

West Indies plans are hit by Chanderpaul's injury

By Peter Deeley in Bridgetown

BRIAN LARA believes that the key to another West Indies victory, in the third Test starting here in Barbados today, will be the ability to neutralise the threat of Australia's leg-spinners.

To this end, the home selectors wanted to play four left-handers in the top half of the batting but their plans went astray when Shivnarine Chanderpaul failed a fitness test on his sore shoulder.

Australia, too, have a batting problem. Greg Blewett was hit on the thumb in practice and if the swelling fails to go down in time, Ricky Ponting will take his place.

When West Indies staged their remarkable comeback in Jamaica to level the series, it was the partnership of two left-handers, Lara and Jimmy Adams, who first subdued Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill and then roasted them in the latter stages of a 312-run stand.

"Leg-spinners often do not find it easy to break through the defence of a left-hander," Lara said, "and it is essential for the batsman that when frustration sets in and they begin to bowl some loose balls he capitalises."

This was particularly evident in Kingston, where MacGill went for almost four runs an over and Warne for a little over three. While Warne bowled well until late in the partnership, his younger colleague was at times woefully inaccurate and Lara in particular took advantage of the loose deliveries.

MacGill's form is somewhat erratic but in his short Test career he has consistently outshone Warne in wicket-taking when the two have played in tandem.

In their last three games together since Warne came back after his shoulder injury, MacGill has taken 18 wickets at 13 runs apiece to his partner's three at a cost of 80 each.

The battle between the leggies and lefties will be all the more important here since the ground, like most in the Caribbean, has lost its reputation for pace and spinners now take a high proportion of wickets.

Australia's captain, Steve Waugh, was not publicly prepared to concede that West Indies have gained the upper hand psychologically over his spinners. "You can't read too much into one game," he said, but there is no doubt that West Indies' transformation in the space of a week from the hapless 51 all out at Port of Spain to a 10-wicket win in Kingston has hurt and worried the tourists.

Back in Australia, Terry Jenner - who some have described as Warne's spinning guru - was prepared to concede that if it came to a straight choice between his man and MacGill, then it might be Warne who would have to stand down.

There is likely to be too much faith in Warne in the Australian camp for that to happen and the player himself seems unperturbed by the suggestion that he has lost his "golden arm".

His view is that after nearly a year out of the game it would inevitably take time to recapture his form. "One day there will be a bag of wickets for me and then I will know I have got the knack again," he says.

West Indies (from): *B C Lara, S L Campbell, A Griffith, C L Hooper, J C Adams, D R E Joseph, -R D Jacobs, N O Perry, C E L Ambrose, P T Collins, C A Walsh, C Collymore.

Australia (from): *S R Waugh, M T G Elliott, M J Slater, J L Langer, M E Waugh, G S Blewett or R T Ponting, -I A Healy, S K Warne, J N Gillespie, S C G MacGill, G D McGrath, C R Miller, A C Dale.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)