AS John Davison, a batsman with no known credentials, was pummelling his bowlers all around SupersportPark in Centurion on Sunday, Carl Hooper’s anxious thoughts fast-forwarded to Friday’s confrontation against a more feared and famous striker.
“When you play against someone like (Sanath) Jayasuriya, if you’re not accurate enough he can punish you,” the West Indies captain said of the left-hander who will open the batting and lead Sri Lanka in the key group day-night match at Newlands here.
“We’ve just got to be more consistent in whatever plan we’re trying to execute, whether it be full balls or short balls,” he said. He added: “We’ve got to concentrate on getting six balls in the right area and set the field accordingly. That’s something we’ve got to work on in the next few days before we come up against the Sri Lankans.”
Sri Lanka’s unexpected, but comprehensive, loss to Kenya in Nairobi yesterday further complicated the group standings. It simply means that the West Indies cannot afford any slips. They must ensure they win their remaining group matches, against Sri Lanka and against Kenya in Kimberley March 4, to qualify as one of the six teams in the next round, the Super Sixes.
With typical understatement, Hooper said his bowlers “had difficulty” in their control against Canada as Davison powered his way to a hundred off 67 balls, five fewer than anyone had ever previously managed in seven World Cup tournaments, finishing with 111 off 76 balls with six sixes and eight fours.
The fast bowlers Merv Dillon, Pedro Collins and Vasbert Drakes, all with considerable experience, were those roughed up most as Davison led Canada to 149 for one off their first 20 overs. Dillon was taken for 41 off five overs and wasn’t called on again. Collins, more controlled, went for 35 off seven. Drakes was clubbed for 29 from his first two overs before he returned to claim five wickets as the Canadians subsided once his wonder catch in the deep removed Davison.
Hooper acknowledged that it would make the West Indies “rethink some of our plans and our strategies and how to adapt to certain situations”. But he emphasised, with good reason, that this did not include boosting the bowling with the addition of a fourth fast bowler. “The quick bowlers bowled the most overs in the first 15 when the run rate was up to between seven and eight an over and it was the part-timers who brought it back for us,” he observed. Wavell Hinds’ medium-pace accounted for the threatening Desmond Chumney with the last ball of his first over and Davison with his first ball of his next, allowing Drakes to come back to clean things up. Hinds’ intervention followed his three for 35 from his full 10 overs in the loss to New Zealand, affirming the value of consistent line and length, regardless of the speed. Hooper will certainly stick with Dillon, Collins and Drakes as his strike bowlers on Friday and depend on Hinds and the flat off-spin of Chris Gayle and himself to complete the 50 overs. The captain did confirm that Sunday’s promotion of Ramnaresh Sarwan from No.6 to No.4, repeatedly recommended from outside the team, would be permanent and not simply because it separates the previous top order of four successive left-handers - Gayle, Hinds, Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. “He’s been in really good touch since the tour of India (last November) and he’s scored at a run a ball and even better whenever he’s had the chance to bat in this tournament,” he noted. “We want to give him the opportunity to get up there and bat as many overs as possible,” he added. Sarwan’s unbeaten 42 off 32 balls on Sunday carried his aggregate for the series to 162 off 169 balls, with two sixes and 12 fours. The West Indies’ only batting worry is Gayle’s lean form, reflected in scores of 2, 22, 0 and 8 and in the method of his dismissals. He diverted a drive into his stumps off an inside-edge against South Africa, drove to extra-cover against Bangladesh and edged cuts to slip and keeper against New Zealand and Canada. If there is the temptation to replace him with Chanderpaul in the opening position, creating a place for Marlon Samuels in the middle order, it is negated by his destructive potential if he does get going and his steady off-spin in a team short of specialist bowlers. Hooper made the obvious point that the West Indies have not yet played to their best, not even in their victory over South Africa in the tournament’s initial match. “We know we can play better and we have to play better to progress to the next round and then on to the semi-finals and final,” he said. “Even when we played against Bangladesh, we weren’t too happy at the manner in which we scored and we know we can play much better even than when we beat South Africa.”
He felt that Davison’s innings expelled any lingering complacency.
“If we had any doubts about how tough it’s going to be for the next couple of weeks, the (Canada) match was a good wake-up call,” he said.