ALTHOUGH gratified that Tuesday's draw in the third Test confirmed his confident assertion that there would be no repeat of the whitewash of five years ago, Brian Lara remains unhappy with his team's bowling and fielding.
And the West Indies captain has ordered more concentrated "match simulation" practice in both areas prior to the final Test, starting in Centurion January 16, and thefive one-day internationals that follow.
"We know we can do all the practice drills but we need to do some match simulation," Lara said. "We have to try to get our guys under pressure in the field in practice so that when a situation happens in a match they can try to repeat that."
Lara noted that it was similar to batting in the nets that should be treated as an innings in the middle with the objective of not getting out.
"We've got to do the same thing in fielding," he said. "We've got to make sure you take every catch at practice, we've got to be competitive at practice so that we can feed off it in the match."
"We've got to make sure we've got the intensity as if it's a Test match and see how the guys handle it," he added.
Lara's comments beg the question as to why there has previously been none of the match simulation and intensity he calls for.
Ironically, the West Indian fielding, once as strong as its batting and fast bowling, has deteriorated to its present levels under two coaches, Roger Harper and now Gus Logie, who were two of the finest fielders of their generation.
It is one area where bad can be converted into good, even outstanding. Instead, it has become an embarrassment compared to the standards set by Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
Their casual pre-match workouts on the field that contrast starkly with the concentrated South African preparations have been repeatedly criticised throughout the series by former players turned commentators to no avail.
Lara's comments should now bring a change.
The West Indies batting has held its own with Lara scoring a double and a single century and Shivnmarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith single centuries in two totals over 400 and two over 320.
But there were six dropped catches on the third day of the second Test as South Africa amassed 658 for nine declared and four in the space of a horrendous hour at the end of the fourth day of the third Test as Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis hammered second innings hundreds.
Lara put some of the onus on the bowlers.
"We've got to support the bowlers in the field," Lara said. "But the bowlers have to put the ball in the right areas, too, and to try to be economical in their spells."
"It's a situation where eleven guys are out there ," he added. "Some may be doing the bowling but all of us are actually taking part in the game."
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Dwayne Smith: from nonentity to overnight star
By Tony Cozier
A COUPLE of hours of sensational batting have transformed Dwayne Smith from a cricketing non-entity to an overnight star.
"Dwayne Smith put some pride back into West Indies cricket with a storming 93-ball hundred," Austin Peters wrote in yesterday's London Daily Telegraph of the Barbadian's unbeaten 105 that enabled the West Indies to draw the third Test here Tuesday and break their sequence of seven successive defeats in South Africa..
"Quite apart from the ebullience and fearlessness, his feat was rare enough not to have been achieved by a West Indies batsman on debut for 26 years," Peters added.
Basil Williams' 100 against Australia at Bourda in 1978 was the last occasion a West Indian first-timer has so marked his first appearance in Test cricket. In the The Times of London, veteran writer Pat Gibson also referred to the positive effect of Smith's innings.
"There have been many heroic, match-saving performances in the history of Test cricket but no one has done it like Dwayne Smith did," he wrote.
"It was not enough to enable West Indies to win the third Test against South Africa, but it did restore some pride to a side whose cricket staggers drunkenly from the ridiculously poor to the sublimely brilliant," Gibson added.
Writing in the The Star of Johannesburg, Michael Owen-Smith noted that South African captain Graeme Smith "ran into trouble where he least expected it as his 20-year-old namesake put both the magic and the Caribbean beat back into West Indies cricket".
Owen-Smith said the West Indian Smith had displayed "a flair and a natural striking ability reminiscent of Collis King".
"When he was operating at full steam, it looked as though the West Indies could pull off an improbable victory as they needed 131 off the final 20 overs with five wickets in hand," he added.
Captain Brian Lara explained afterwards that "a draw had to be our only option" after he and vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan were dismissed within 21 runs of each other after a partnership of 156.