The pitch for the third Test seems to have cast a dampener over the series. What had been an exciting if generally one-sided series, played on flat surfaces, degenerated into a dull, tedious affair thanks to a remarkably lifeless Kensington Oval pitch in Bridgetown, Barbados. All match, the Australians squinted and scowled at the offending strip of turf. Fast bowlers raised their eyebrows or shook their heads in disgust as another delivery bounced twice on the way to a harried Gilchrist; batsmen met for sceptical, wearied discussions.
Steve Waugh did the most scowling, for he had the responsibility of describing the conditions. Having had time to analyse them in compiling an Australian-record 30th century -- an innings of endurance, in which he fought for timing throughout -- Waugh called the pitch the slowest and lowest he had seen in his 159 Tests and lamented that playing cricket in the West Indies is not the challenge it used to be.
Once, a West Indies tour meant fiery pitches and even fierier bowlers, as encapsulated by Waugh's memorable confrontation with Curtly Ambrose at Trinidad in 1995. The ultimate test of character, against truly formidable opponents. Now, it is the ultimate test of patience, with runs almost ridiculously easy to score through crease occupation, and nothing but joyless toil for the bowlers. The India-West Indies scorecards show a not dissimilar story last year.
Whether the Test pitches are symptomatic of the state of the wickets generally at first-class level and below in the West Indies is not known. But if you're looking for reasons to explain the decline in West Indies cricket, then this would seem to be another one.
The Australians appeared thoroughly frustrated with the conditions, and they were the ones to conquer them. They sung their team anthem on the pitch immediately after the win, as if in defiance of the vanquished surface -- we overcame you. It was a rare public display of a customarily private dressing room tradition, a demonstration of the spirit that was required to attain the series-winning 3-0 lead.
Now imagine how the West Indies must feel, having to play on wickets like that all the time. The calibre of their bowling has been castigated, to some degree unfairly. The Australians' 5-pronged attack (albeit minus McGrath until Barbados) has struggled to keep West Indies below 400 and bowl them out in less than four sessions. What then could realistically have been expected of an unheralded West Indian attack against the best batting line-up around on such pitches?
True, Mervyn Dillon and Pedro Collins generally lacked discipline, and were axed for the third Test. Given the circumstances, however, it's difficult to condemn them or others too harshly. West Indies fielded surely one of the most inexperienced attacks in Test history for the third Test (collectively, nine previous Tests for 36 wickets), and it was the best option. Tino Best and Omari Banks may have been pasted, but it must ultimately stand them in good stead. If, that is, they eventually receive decent home pitches to bowl on.
Were it any team but Australia, or if the sides were anything like evenly matched, the second and third Tests would surely have been drawn. Steve Waugh, who equalled Clive Lloyd as the most successful Test captain with this victory, has drawn just 10.4 per cent of his matches in charge. The reason these Tests weren't drawn is that Australia's superiority has been marked. Though West Indies have made scores of 408 and 328 at Trinidad and Barbados respectively, Australia could have made more than 800. Their batting dominance has provided the bowlers time to play the patience game at which they are unparalleled, one of the fundamentals Australia perform outstandingly well that Nasser Hussain tried to elucidate to those taking the "psychological stranglehold" line earlier in the season. Line and length, patience, discipline -- these were the only conceivable wicket-taking strategies that would not end in tears for the bowlers.
Australia were in the field for 245 consecutive overs, the equivalent of nearly three days, a sentence made more manageable by having the workload spread over five bowlers. Ricky Ponting has three series hundreds, is in the form of his career and with a decent knock in the last match should be man of the series. The heroes in these circumstances, however, are the likes of Jason Gillespie.
First innings: Gillespie 21-9-31-3. Second innings: 28-11-37-1. These figures are a tribute to spirit, determination and sheer effort, the type that has to be exhibited to drive wins like this, on a pitch on which Gillespie was quoted as saying you needed Viagra to get the ball "up" on. And to think the pre-match reports indicated the wicket to be the quickest of the series, and that Australia went in with four pacemen!
The energetic Andy Bichel, who would have been dropped for McGrath had Hogg been retained, could have been seen as slightly superfluous with a match total of 21 overs. That is deceptive, though, for Bichel's two wickets were both Brian Lara (one decision clearly wrong and the other marginal, poor umpiring one of the few ways Australia can dismiss Lara, but an indication of Bichel's value anyway), and the 71 he scored from as many ball's as the team's all-rounder was as fluent as any top order bat. Bichel is usually a valuable contributor, which is probably why Waugh refused to single out Stuart MacGill's admirable 9-wicket match haul for praise but rather commend all the bowlers for their jobs.
MacGill, for his part, bowled with the rhythm and confidence of a top-class spinner, the frequent "four balls" of the first two Tests no longer in evidence. The impression remains he will need more variation in flight, pace and deliveries to trouble better sides in conditions less conducive to spin, but the statistics show him to be one of the fastest to 100 Test wickets. He gets it done and, allied to the improved economy, Australia can feel comfortable with him as their specialist spinner.
On a high after what he termed a "perfect" game, MacGill said at the presentation ceremony he would like to take the Kensington Oval pitch with him. If he tried to do that, he might find his team-mates leave him behind in Barbados.
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