Will South Africa be a replay of Zimbabwe?
Tony Cozier in Johannesburg assesses the West Indies Team at the end of the tour of Zimbabwe
Stabroek News
December 3, 2003
"All's well that ends well," William Shakespeare wrote.
It is a sentiment captain Brian Lara and coach Gus Logie have taken to heart as they leave Zimbabwe behind and embark on the longer, altogether more difficult engagement in South Africa. It starts today with the leisurely and traditional one-day match against Nicky Oppenheimer's Eleven at the mining magnate's private ground 40 minutes outside Johannesburg.
Even there, the West Indies will get an early taste of what to expect in the four Tests and five one-day internationals that follow over the coming two months against a powerful team captained by Lance Klusener, an opponent they know well from several previous encounters.
The successes in both Test and one-day series that ended in Zimbabwe on Sunday were harder work than had been bargained for. But, the way Lara and Logie saw it, they revealed the character and spirit of a young team that was first evident in the home series against Australia and Sri Lanka. A positive spin can be put on just about any situation, as any politician knows, but Lara and Logie have a point.
On the face of it, to scramble a draw in one Test in which they were outplayed throughout, win the next after a second innings collapse to 128 all out and need to take the last two ODI matches to clinch that contest was less than expected against a team with a record even more modest than their own. The interpretation of captain and coach is that a team is developing that refuses to give in, even if the dire situations in which it so often finds itself are self-inflicted.
The West Indies have now gone five Tests without defeat, a rarity. They have won three and had to produce something special in each.
The Australians, the all-conquering Australians, set them Test cricket's highest winning total in Antigua in May and, like everyone else, awaited the victory that would complete the West Indies' first whitewash on home soil. Australian supporters even took along their brooms in anticipation of the 4-0 clean sweep. They left with a piece of history as the West Indies totalled the required 418 for seven.
A few weeks later, at Sabina Park, they had to get the highest total of the match, 212, to beat Sri Lanka and faced the prospect of a tense fight against their old nemeses, Muttiah Muralitheran and Chaminda Vaas. Instead, Lara and his new deputy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, sped them home with only three wickets down.
In Harare three weeks ago, Fidel Edwards, 21 years old, in his second Test and the genuine number 11, coolly blocked 33 balls with eager Zimbabweans clustered around him like hungry vultures, to avoid a humiliating loss in association with the dogged Ridley Jacobs.
Within a few days, the all-too-familiar batting meltdown gave Zimbabwe a chance to make good in the second Test. With 233 as the winning goal, the match was in the balance, but not for long.
The spirit of Antigua, Kingston and Harare surfaced again and, even without Edwards, the fastest bowler, Zimbabwe were swept aside for 109.
As if unable to rid themselves of the continuing habit of backing themselves into a corner, two mediocre performances in the subsequent ODIs once more required something special to prevent a dismal departure from Harare and despair on arrival in South Africa. With Edwards, Wavell Hinds and Chris Gayle, the earlier scenarios were repeated.
So Lara starts his second tour of South Africa in his second tenure as captain in distinctly different circumstances to his first five years ago. The buildup in Zimbabwe has again given credence to Shakespeare's assertion that all's well that ends well. Five years ago, it was all's wrong that starts wrong.
There was doubt over whether the tour, of even more social and political than cricketing significance, would start at all. It was preceded by the most unsavoury chapter in West Indies cricket history, a week-long players' strike, conducted at London's Heathrow Airport of all places. It was only settled following a pleading letter from Nelson Mandela and a muddled board's reinstatement of Lara and vice-captain Carl Hooper, who it had earlier fired, and agreement to most of their demands.
Even on the belated flight to Johannesburg, Jimmy Adams, a valued and experienced player, sliced his right hand in a still-mysterious incident that kept him out of the tour altogether. What followed was a predictable shambles.
Less than a year in the position, Lara lost control of his men. There was a lack of discipline, injuries multiplied so that four replacements had to be summoned and 18 players were used in the five Tests, all of which were lost,prior to a 6-1 thrashing in the ODIs.
Lara returns older, wiser and clearly excited by the ability and, expressly, the attitude of the young players under him.
If the nightmare of 199899 will always figure negatively in his extraordinary life's story, he is adamant that it is irrelevant to the imminent proceedings. "We are playing in our era, we are playing for us and our people back home," he said on arrival. "Both teams are different now, the majority of our players didn't play then and those involved here are keen to make a name for themselves."
Lara has been in the game long enough to acknowledge that South Africa are clear favourites.
They are ranked only behind Australia in the ICC's Test and ODI standings, to the West Indies' eighth, and have only lost a single series at home in either form of the game to Australia since the abolition of apartheid brought them fully into international cricket in 1992.
Coach Logie yesterday restated his satisfaction at the commitment and attitude of the players, attributing it to the unified efforts of all concerned, captain, players, support staff, management. He saw the major mission of this tour as overcoming the continuing inconsistency.
"In Zimbabwe, we continued to improve mentally and physically," he said yesterday. "The guys have the confidence that comes with winning. They need now to put together three good sessions a day for five days.
"We don't come here under any illusions because we know South Africa are a strong, tough side. Our aim is to continue improving and if we do that, I'll be satisfied."
So will millions of West Indians who have known only disappointment for too long now.