Abject, disappointing, disheartening, dispiriting, depressing, second-rated, pathetic, lame, pitiful, disastrous and substandard.
These are just some of the adjectives to describe the West Indies performance in the first test against Australia which ended in two-and-a-half days. Australia batted for 114 overs, scored 583 for 4 declared and the West Indies batted 106.3 overs in two innings amassed 371 runs and lost by an innings and 212 runs.
It is a bitter pill to swallow especially while growing up with a winning team in the 1980s. Winning was a habit and it was expected in every game. In fact rare loses (limited overs) were usually met with severe criticism from very unforgiving fans. However, the players were professionals both in name and in their action. They wore the maroon cap with distinction and were aware they represented the pride of the West Indian people whenever they set foot on the battle field. This was quite evident in the film Fire in Babylon.
I do not think anyone who understands cricket and more so the recent fortunes of both teams would expect the West Indies to win this series unless they believe in miracles. And no miracle would have been expected in first test especially after they were defeated by ten wickets by an Australian Cricket Association XI that included six first class debutants. However, it was expected that the team would have at least been competitive.
As Holder indicated in the post-match presentation there was too much indiscipline in the bowling and batting. At the start of the test, it seemed as though 50 overs cricket had returned to white clothing as Australia was scoring at seven runs per over after the first ten overs. And even after snapping up three quick wickets before lunch to leave Australia shaky at 121, they were not able to capitalise and saw 449 scored before the next wicket. The batting was pathetic in both the first and second innings, save Darren Bravo 108 and Kemar Roach 31 in the first innings and Kraigg Brathwaite 94 in the second innings.
The most senior players Marlon Samuels and Denesh Ramdin did not show up at the park. In fact it is mysterious why Samuels was not within the infield, offering advice to Holder and the bowlers instead of parading the boundary lines in a nonchalant and unruffled manner?
The commentary team (mostly former players who bear memories of severe losses from the past) added salt to the injustice felt with intermittent patronising and supercilious comments. One had to endure a simultaneous flogging from the field and the commentary box.
There is no denying the WICB is culpable in no small way for the current parlous state as several stakeholders (former players, administrators, CARICOM Cricket Review Panel, past prime ministers, the general public et al) have expressed their unequivocal disappointment.
However, the problem/challenge goes beyond administration. The problem of indiscipline identified by Holder in his post-match statement is symptomatic of serious challenge facing Caribbean society. Everyone wants success but some are not prepared to work for it. They demand resources but some are not prepared to deliver on these resources. Indiscipline and mediocrity seem to become the new norm. Look at how many players have been reprimanded after three rounds of cricket in CPL for various breaches of the code of conduct.
Discipline and patience are critical ingredients for making the most of one’s talent in cricket (as with any aspect of life) whether one is a bowler and or batsman. Voges and Marsh’s combined discipline and patience with their batting skills chalked up a fourth wicket world record partnership of 449 runs.
Both Bravo and Brathwaite demonstrated that the West Indian batsmen can be productive but they need to dig deeper. Coaches and all the other cognitive consultants and experts have to instill in players that they cannot play professional cricket with an amateur attitude. Professionalism is not only a title but more importantly an action which has to be executed at all times.
Hopefully the professionalism level will be elevated for the Boxing Day test and self-pride will be quite optimally obvious. Even if a miracle does not take place they will be able to hold their heads up and say, “we fought tooth and nail” to the end. And that is all that can be asked as they go through a rather long transition stage.