Weakened WI try for justice (24 April 1999)

24 April 1999

Weakened WI try for justice

The Trinidad Express

JUSTICE, they feel, has been denied.

So this morning when they take to the field for the Sixth Cable and Wireless One-day International at Kensington Oval, the West Indies cricket team will be aiming to ensure that it is delayed no further.

Team manager Clive Lloyd was yesterday emphasising that his players had to put behind them the ill-fated "tied'' Fifth ODI at the Bourda ground, Guyana.

But those crazy scenes of spectators invading the field before the action was complete will not go away easily.

Neither will the result, influenced, according to match referee Raman Subba Row, by the uncompleted third run attempted by captain Steve Waugh and Shane Warne, after Keith Arthurton had already broken the stumps.

"We are very disappointed. We should be in a position where we are looking to win one, not two."''Lloyd said plainly.

Waugh, nursing a whiplash as a souvenir of his Guyana experience, will argue otherwise.

But Lloyd was certain that his side had done enough to be officially ahead in the series.

"We should have won the game. We played well enough to win the game. That last over, they had six runs to get in six balls and five were dot balls. That was a winning situation for us. One of our players did not get to finish his full quota but we still managed to pull it back. And we batted first when the wicket did a little bit with all the rain about.''

This morning, though, the limping Windies will have to start from scratch.

Skipper Brian Lara, exasperated as the rest of the squad by the events in Guyana, is out again. So is Phil Simmons, a vital player so far in this series with 130 late-order runs, average 32.50 and four wickets, two of which came in three balls on Wednesday to tilt a tight contest in the West Indies's favour.

Courtney Walsh is also being rested in favour of Reon King who gets his second match of the series.

And it will be no comfort to the home side that while their other pace ace Curtly Ambrose, still struggling to shrug off the flubug, will also be missing, Australian spearhead Glenn McGrath may possibly return to the team today.

McGrath has bowled just one over in this series after spraining his ankle in the Third ODI. His presence will certainly lift morale and strengthen an Australia side that has found their Caribbean opponents perhaps more troublesome than they might have anticipated in the shorter game.

They may be unbeaten in their last two matches. But those statistics have not been purely as a result of their good cricket.

The match referee's decision in Guyana prevented a defeat that seemed certain after the last ball of the game. And the Aussies were able to take advantage of some careless cricket in the Fourth ODI that resulted in three run-outs during the West Indies innings.

Australia's top order batsmen, with few exceptions, have found things difficult against disciplined bowlers and an improving fielding team.

The growing West Indian confidence was reflected in the words of the manager.

"We are matching the Australians and that is the important thing,'' Lloyd declared. "People thought we would be beaten out of sight. But we matched them in the Test matches and we are matching them in the One-day games.''

The manager added, "the team we have, we want to go out there and win well. And if we do, we would have had a very good summer and it gives us that impetus to go and play well in England because the World Cup is what we feel we can win.''

Positive proof of that will please today's capacity crowd.

Another sold-out Caribbean venue, the sixth of the series, has ensured another "live'' telecast on local TV.

But that has not stopped the scalpers from doing brisk business.

The administrative uneasiness prompted by the Guyana scandal has prompted Barbados Cricket Association president Tony Marshall to appeal to the fans to show the world the best of Barbados today.

He and all the other West Indian supporters will be hoping to see the best of the West Indies as well.

West Indies: (Jimmy Adams (Capt), Sherwin Campbell, Ridley Jacobs, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Carl Hooper, Keith Arthurton, Stuart Williams, Nehemiah Perry, Mervyn Dillon, Hendy Bryan, Reon King. (12th man, Adrian Griffith)

Australia (from): Steve Waugh (Capt), Mark Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Darren Lehmann, Michael Bevan, Shane Lee, Tom Moody, Shane Warne, Damien Fleming, Glenn McGrath, Paul Reiffel, Damien Martyn, Brendon Julian.