After seeing another Lara innings that changed the fickle Guyanese crowd's chant from "Hooper, Hooper" to "Lara, Lara", the same two syllables, in an instant, the same crowd that booed Lara twice on his way to the crease, Brian Lara's dismissal, reminiscent of another left-hander, Roy Fredericks kicking down the stumps on his follow-through after hooking the great Dennis Lillee for six in the 1975 World Cup final, was one of the several strange things seen on Day 3 of this still interestingly poised 1st Test match.
One of them brought back a memory of some story I heard many years ago. Apparently, some club captain in Barbados only knew two places on the field, the slips and the wicket-keeper. On getting to the pitch, the captain bellowed; "John, you go to the slip, alongside Jimmy, the 'keeper. The rest of you, scatter!!"
Now, let us see. The Australians, sensibly, I give them credit for that, selected five front-line bowlers for this game, perhaps assessing things correctly, with the pitch still playing so benignly. Yet, when Brian Lara started to clout the bowling, of all five of the bowlers, everywhere, all of the fieldsmen scattered everywhere else.
At one stage, the only fieldsman close to Lara within loud-hailer distance, was wicket-keeper, Adam Gilchrist. The next closest fielder was much closer to the fence than the pitch. That was just after Lara had got to 50. We even had the bowling of Steve Waugh, playing in his record 157th Test match. That was a surprising sight, perhaps, for Australia, even worrying, so early in the tour, or was this a special tactic? We shall see.
Remember, this is the same Steve Waugh who had suggested that though they will miss both Glen McGrath and Shane Warne, at least the rest of his bowling attack would suffice well. Well, I am here to tell the revered Australian captain, someone I have great respect for, that he had better get some new bowlers for these West Indian pitches, or give these already here something to enhance their performances, on-field, that is, whatever he construes that to be.
After only three days, the Aussies looked extremely bedraggled, tired even, many moving around at minus miles per hour. Please also remember that there are still 17 days of Test cricket in this series left, plus so many One-day games. The Aussies might need another 17 players by the time the end of the series if this carries on.
Oh, another strange but pleasant sight was Darren Ganga actually getting a big score. I saw his last big score, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in 2001, so at least I have seen his two best innings.
Ganga did suggest many times that he is always inspired when batting with Lara, so at least, the inspiration transcended the void. He must have read my column yesterday, since he did bat well for his first Test century, playing with great patience and some aggression too, given the poor standard of umpiring in this game. I also hope that Ganga does not intend to get a big score every two years.
It is not Ganga's fault that he was not given out LBW to Steve Waugh, a ball that probably would have hit, in my opinion, the middle of the middle stump, or indeed, that Wavell Hinds was given out with a ball that could not have hit another leg-stump, had it been there, not to mention Devon Smith being out LBW in the first innings from the inside half of the bat, then to pad, a nick that was probably heard in Grenada. If the captains were still signing Umpires' Reports, they may have put minus marks. The performance has been poor, so far. The ICC has got to do something about this.
One wonders how another probably more efficient umpire could become "elite?" Since the panel is struck by the hierarchy of the ICC, how would others get the exposure, hence the experience, to go permanently to the highest level if they are not actually involved in umpiring at the highest level? New Zealander Billy Bowden was elevated to this "elite" panel after a great performance in the last World Cup. Must we endure the continued bad officiating until World Cup 2007?
Finally, as a technological buff, one who has used so-called sophisticated technology for almost all of my working life, I actually saw technology fail on Day 3. Marlon Samuels may or may not have been out of his ground (the angle of the top of the bat suggested that he may have been out of his ground, but that is geometry and calculus, not cricket, per se'), while the man he was "running for", Shiv Chanderpaul, played a shot, missed, and Adam Gilchrist removed the bails, appealing loudly. Had it been ascertained that Samuels was out of his ground, Chanderpaul would have been out.
The point is, despite the several cameras present, none of them could fully and truly ascertain that Samuels' bat, the bottom of it, was either in or out of the crease. Messrs Duncan and Nicholls, the two Stand-by umpires, and Match Referee Mike Proctor could do little but give Shiv not out.
So, even with such a great day of cricket going on, with both Lara and Ganga, from my adopted home-land playing well for centuries, the West Indies still need to bat well in Day 4, to be dismissed no earlier than tea on Day 4, if they are to try to save, or even win this game.