WI left again to play for pride

After four successive defeats to the Black Caps in the One-Day International series, the tourists avoided a 5-0 humiliation with victory in the last match in Auckland at the start of the month.

However in the aftermath of throwing away a Test series-opening win at the same venue and then being trounced by ten wickets in Wellington four days ago, it seems the weather is set to come to the aid of Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s downcast troops at McLean Park.

Play is scheduled to get underway in the Third Test on Saturday (this evening Caribbean time), but the showers that affected the match at the Basin Reserve have moved further up North Island, leaving the east coast town of Napier almost completely blanketed by thick grey cloud and soaked by persistent rain over the past three days.

While the precipitation is very welcome after what has been an extremely dry summer in many areas of New Zealand, a continuation of the inclement weather into the weekend may be particularly disappointing for home captain Stephen Fleming, especially in light of his clear statement that he wants his team to lift their game to a level well above the present opponents.

Fleming’s post-match remarks in Wellington, coming in the wake of Scott Styris’ moaning about what he perceived to be a West Indian lack of “compassion” towards New Zealand batsmen hit during the First Test, might actually reinforce Brian Lara’s bold statement on his arrival in the country accusing the hosts of not respecting West Indies cricket.

The problem is, of course, that since the fourth afternoon of the First Test, the visitors— and especially their premier batsman— have done precious little to change the general impression here that the once proud kings of the international game remain trapped in a downward spiral that shows no immediate signs of slowing down, far less turning around.

Recent evidence away from home is not encouraging in terms of the West Indies avoiding a Test series whitewash. Apart from being in a record tailspin of eight consecutive Test defeats, they have also been swept in their last three away series, losing a combined nine Tests in England, Sri Lanka and Australia.

Now, with the Black Caps poised to add to the lengthening tale of woe, even avoiding defeat at McLean Park will be an effort that rings hollow, especially as it is reputed to be one of the best batting surfaces in the country.

Inevitably, the West Indian batsmen in particular will be looking upon the match as an opportunity to redeem themselves, none moreso than Lara, whose farewell matches in Auckland and Wellington were more the stuff of nightmares than dreams.

The most prolific batsman in the history of Test cricket managed a shocking tally of seven runs from four innings, his worst returns in back-to-back matches in his 123 Tests spanning over 15 years.

Yet while the 36-year-old will again be the obvious focus of West Indian attention for his final farewell to a New Zealand cricketing audience, his plight has only been the worst of what has been typical of a team whose only established players over the past six years have all been batsmen.

Apart from Runako Morton’s first innings topscore of 63, the five batsmen who followed the openers in the Second Test could only muster a combined 78 from seven innings, 36 of which came off the bat of Chanderpaul in the second innings.

For all of the lamentations about the paucity of fast bowling talent in the last decade, the statistics show that, especially very recently, it is the batsmen who have failed to deliver when it matters most.

If anything, the pressure will be more on the New Zealanders to reinforce that the narrow escape in Auckland was just a fluke, and that the comprehensive victory in the nation’s capital was a true reflection of the gulf between the sides.

TEAMS: NEW ZEALAND (probable) — Stephen Fleming (captain), Hamish Marshall, Jamie How, Peter Fulton, Nathan Astle, Scott Styris, Brendon McCullum, James Franklin, Kyle Mills, Daniel Vettori, Chris Martin.

WEST INDIES (probable) — Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Runako Morton, Brian Lara, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Denesh Ramdin, Ian Bradshaw, Darren Powell, Fidel Edwards.

(CMC)