Windies need better bowling options

WEST INDIES are playing better cricket these days than in the recent past, but this has nothing to do with the bowlers. The batting has plastered the cracks in the wall of West Indies cricket but although the willow men can bat teams out of matches they need to get the opposition out to claim victory.

In analysing the bowling quarters, let’s start with Mervyn Dillon. The tall Toco-born pacer must stay on the team. People have been calling for his exclusion but they are short-sighted and also command poor memory. Even after the ICC World Cup, cricket ‘experts’ were calling for his dismissal which I could not understand. The man played a big hand in the victory against South Africa. In his first spell he removed South Africa’s most dangerous batsman in Hershelle Gibbs. In his second he sent back the South African ‘rock’ Gary Kirsten. And to top this off, Dillon bowled very economically throughout the entire series and got crucial wickets, yet there are calls for his head. Dillon remains the only bowler we have that can take wickets and take big wickets at that. The man has talent and has been our best bowler for the past few seasons.

People repeatedly compare him with Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh and that’s why he gets the wrong end of the stick. I admit that at the moment he is not bowling well, but with sustained training and matches he would get back into groove. The other member of the party that should remain is the sensible Vasbert Drakes. The Barbadian has proved to all that he is a mature cricketer and has already bagged a five-wicket haul in the series. Drakes was harshly treated  at the Oval as was everybody else and I think he would come back into his own for the Barbados Test. I am sorry, but Pedro Collins must go. He has shown that the Test grade is just above him and maybe he needs to go back to the basics and work for a while.

Collins has to seek out Bernard Julien for example to help him improve his art. He must however remain in the framework of West Indies cricket because he is by far the best left arm seamer we have at our disposal. Collins must be replaced by Jermaine Lawson who has the ability to get wickets on any pitch. This youngster consistently bowls at around 90 miles per hour and would be cause for concern to top class batsmen. Lawson showed this with his dismissals of Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian Test series. He also toppled four of the highly touted Indian batsmen in the final one-day cricket match in India.

The fourth bowling option should go to the young and impressive fastman Tino Best. This 21-year old is a very good investment and is one who listens and is willing to learn. He has matured tremendously over the last season and has put his house in order after his aberrations on tour with the West Indies ‘A’ team in Canada. Best bowls as quick as Jamaican Patrick Patterson and would be a handful on his home turf in Barbados. He has the ability to swing the ball at tremendous pace.

Young Devon Smith should be taken out before more damage is done to him. The West Indies with this attack will definitely do better than the posse that was hit for 814 runs, taking just seven wickets at the Oval. The West Indies should aim for a draw in this series against the rampaging Australians as this would be a moral victory over them. The men from Down Under want to destroy every team in every match and our boys will have to take it one step at a time and at least go for a draw to begin with.