Difficult decisions again confront Windies
Edwards set to return, Joseph pushing for overdue test debut
By Tony Cozier In MANCHESTER
Stabroek News
August 10, 2004
IF a revival of their collective spirit, following heavy defeats in the first two Tests, is their most critical challenge, a host of difficult decisions over team composition also confront the West Indies prior to the third Test that starts at Old Trafford on Thursday.
They concern principally, but not only, the bowling.
Devon Smith's position as Chris Gayle's opening partner is open to question, and the question is being loudly asked by Sylvester Joseph.
And, following his pair in the second Test, Ridley Jacobs' hold on the wicket-keeping spot that has been his for 66 Tests is as tenuous as it has been since he briefly lost it to Junior Murray against India in 2002.
If England's broad hint over what they expect conditions to be is followed, it would entail a profound change in emphasis of a West Indies attack that has yielded an average total of 502 at a rate of 4.29 runs an over in the first two Tests.
The unforeseen effect of left-arm spinner Ashley Giles (18 wickets at 18.44 runs each) in their two victories and the prospect that the Old Trafford pitch will prompt turn, as it has done all season, has influenced England to add off-spinner Gareth Batty to their squad of 13.
Should the West Indies be also so inclined, it would mean retaining off-spinner Omari Banks, in spite of his marked lack of success in the two Tests (three wickets for 341), and adding the left-arm chinamen and googlies of Dave Mohammed, the recent replacement for Tino Best, for what would be his second Test.
Such a bold move would reduce the fast bowling staff to two, supported by Dwayne Bravo's medium-pace, and the West Indies have not entered a Test with such a balance since the 1970s when they felt obliged to carry two, sometimes three, spinners into the Queen's Park Oval.
The likelier option is for Mohammed, because of the rarity of his style, instead of Banks, especially following Chris Gayle's five second innings wickets with his varied off-spin at Edgbaston, and three fast bowlers.
The selectors have the weather, their assessment of the pitch and England's need to settle on their final eleven by tomorrow to guide them before Brian Lara hands over his team to Michael Vaughan prior to the toss.
They will come in reverse order.
Ideally, if not necessarily, England want to inform the two out of their 13 who won't make the final eleven by today, so that they can rejoin their county teams for important county matches that start tomorrow.
If Batty is released, it would be a clue that they have inside information that conditions won't be as overly favourable to spin as at first thought.
The West Indies think tank can evaluate the pitch themselves and make their minds up over the next two days when forecast rain would add moisture to surrounding soil parched by two weeks of hot sun.
The rain swept into Manchester yesterday, confining the West Indies to indoor training and practice. More is expected through the week but without a corresponding drop in the mid-20 degrees celsius temperatures that have obtained for more than a week.
Such humidity would encourage swing as much as an abrasive pitch would spin, another consideration for both sets of selectors.
One certainty appears to be the return of Fidel Edwards, because of the method, rather than purely the statistics, of his five wickets in each innings in the victory over a weak Derbyshire team over the weekend.
Six of his 10 wickets were either bowled or LBW, a sure indication of his improved line and length allied to his pace. Dave Houghton, the former Zimbabwe captain who is Derbyshire coach, was not the only one to recognise his potential threat to England if he can maintain such form.
As Edwards himself noted, it was a result of his work in the nets to get his rhythm right.
He arrived in England after a month's layoff in Barbados recuperating from the injury that put him out of the final Test against Bangladesh in Jamaica in late May.
His only bowling prior to the first Test was 38 overs in matches against the MCC and Sri Lanka æAÆ that yielded a solitary wicket. He was clearly short of work at Lord's where he failed to take a wicket.
Like Shivnarine Chanderpaul before him, he has shown the value of practice.
The stalwart left-hander was in such a slump of form and confidence early in the tour that he was reluctant to open the batting in the one-day internationals.
To boost both, he spent hours in the nets, batting against anyone who would bowl to him. The upshot was 100 not out, 128 not out, 98 not out, 45 and 43 in his last three matches.
They should be examples to everyone in the team.
Joseph arrived after the NatWest Series of one-day internationals and has made runs each time he has appeared - 114 and 68 against Sri Lanka `A', 23 and 77 against Derbyshire.
It is consistency that deserves reward, especially given Devon Smith's increasing vulnerability after his 45 in the first innings of the first Test.
Joseph is more proof of the value of diligence.
A potential West Indies batsman since he was a teenager, he was stuck in a rut for the past four years.
But he worked on bettering his technique last season and earned selection for the England tour with over 500 runs for the Leewards in the Carib Beer Cup and a hundred for the Board XI against Bangladesh, both as captain.
Usually No.3, he was used as opener in both innings against Derbyshire, a certain sign of the selectors' thinking. He could well make his overdue Test debut in the same position come Thursday.
Although Jacobs has looked more his 36 years than ever in the first two Tests, his value as a wholehearted warrior has been too often proven for him to be pensioned off just yet.
Carlton Baugh, his deputy for the past year-and-a-half, once more showed his worth as a batsman with his unbeaten 150 against Derbyshire, as he did with 158 not out against a similarly weak Free State team in South Africa last December.
But he has made no impression so far in his three Tests and eight ODIs. His time will come next year, once Jacobs reads the obvious signs of the passing years and calls it a day once this tour is over.