WI face test of character

PORT ELIZABETH: West Indian morale will be tested as never before on this African cricket tour when the visitors face South Africa in the second of five One-Day International (ODI) matches at St George’s Park today. Less than 72 hours after their worst ever loss in 482 ODIs and with fewer then nine days before they depart for home, the challenge for Brian Lara’s squad to stay focussed on the immediate task is almost as great as the considerable threat presented by Graeme Smith’s men. The humiliation of being routed for their lowest ever score — 54 — in the shorter version of the game on the way to a 209-run mauling in Cape Town on Sunday will be hard to shake off.

But the West Indies will take consolation from the fact that their own inconsistent form and occasional periods of  brilliance during the Test series, especially with the bat, mean that no encounter in this five-match series can be deemed a no-contest. Mindful of the manner in which the ball seamed about under lights at Newlands on a pitch that both captains noted was already difficult for batting, Lara will be hoping that he can get it right from the very outset and win the toss. This would give his side the option of batting first and therefore avoid the prospect of taking on the South African seamers in helpful conditions when the floodlamps are again switched on. The general consensus from the experts here in this port city on the Eastern Cape is that the St George’s Park surface will be the slowest and lowest of the five one-day venues, again giving the visitors a modicum of hope that they can square the series before the next match in Durban on Friday.

However the oldest international venue in South Africa harbours few happy memories for the West Indies. On their first official tour to the country 11 years ago for a tri-nation limited-over series, they were whipped by six wickets by the hosts though the team under Richie Richardson went on to defeat Pakistan in the final in Cape Town. Then in the turbulent 1998/99 campaign during Lara’s first tenure as captain, a debilitating defeat inside three days in the Second Test was followed by a 99-run thrashing in the one-day fixture at the same venue. In that context, they were probably grateful that Port Elizabeth missed out on hosting a Test in the series that ended last week at Centurion. Despite the batting debacle in the opening match, the Caribbean side’s top order is likely to be unchanged for the second encounter, simply because there are no viable options. Of the four players left out from the Cape Town fixture, only Kurt Wilkinson is a frontline batsman.

The diminutive Barbadian failed to impress in the lone warm-up match against the South African “A” team in Paarl last Friday and it is difficult to see him getting his senior international debut at the expense of any one of the incumbent top six. In the bowling department, Vasbert Drakes proved the most expensive three days earlier, but the selectors will have to consider whether any one of Fidel Edwards and the uncapped pair of Ravi Rampaul and Ian Bradshaw can be more effective than the 34-year-old Barbadian. Lara will have to re-examine his own tactics from the first match as well, for after keeping the home team firmly in check at 129 for four in the 35th over, he proceeded to introduce a sixth bowler, Ricardo Powell, whose three overs cost 24 runs and opened the floodgates for Jacques Kallis and Jacques Rudolph to effect a spectacular recovery. Not surprisingly, most eyes will be on Kallis to see if the 28-year-old right-hander can extend his remarkable run of form which has produced a century in each of the five international matches so far and a tally of 821 runs. Needless to say, South Africa are expected to retain the same 11 that earned them their largest ever margin of victory in one-dayers. The only sector of the South African cricket structure that will be concerned at the moment is at the financial level, for over 5,000 tickets were unsold 48 hours before the start of the match.

Teams: South Africa (probable) - Graeme Smith (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Rudolph, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock, Robin Peterson, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel.
West Indies (probable) - Brian Lara (captain), Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Smith, Ricardo Powell, Ridley Jacobs, Ryan Hurley, Vasbert Drakes, Mervyn Dillon, Corey Collymore.