Oval win brought back memories

Andi Thornhill

May 8, 2002

There were shades of old in the West Indies comprehensive victory over India in the third Cable & Wireless test at Kensington Oval.

Not so long ago, the great West Indian teams under the leadership of Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards would more than likely have caned the Indians with the same ruthlessness in the same manner that the contemporary side accomplished on Sunday.

Of course, they were many of us who were beginning to doubt whether Carl Hooper's team had the gumption and the killer instinct to even wipe out the slightest of opponents.

The third Test might have given us second thoughts. Perhaps they can if they really try hard enough.

But from the very first ball of the match, when Merv Dillon catspradled the stumps of Shiv Sunder Das, you got the impression that West Indians meant business.

That moment set the pace as the Indians would once again come face to face with the bogey that Kensington seems to hold for them.

Coming into the Test, they had lost six of the seven they had played previously on what traditionally has been a great stomping ground for West Indies cricket, but a burial ground for them.

You could draw from this inference that the Indians possess a terminal psychological fear for this ground and, at times during their innings, you wonder if they had the guts or the faith to defy the West Indies charge.

Maybe that was part of it but the truth is the pacers battered them into submission. Some pundits hold the view that once the Indians experience anything closely resembling a bodyline attack they tend to flinch and run for cover. Some exceptions to that rule would include the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Mohammed Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar, all players who proved their mettle against all opposition in all conditions.

On a pitch less helpful in the second Test at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad, there were times when the West Indies pacers had the visitors' topnotch batsmen on the run. Were they able to sustain it, the result might have been very different.

So would they be able this time to finish the job started so marvellously by Dillon? Time and events proved that they could.

In fact, there was more resistance from the rain than the Indians and, had there been fewer interruptions, it seemed the West Indies would have been batting before tea on the first day. Much more famed and notorious attacks of the past would have done exactly the same thing.

Indeed, we need only to cast our minds back to the last time the West Indians inflicted defeat at the Oval in 1997.

Set 121 to win, they were bowled out for just 81; the brutal charge led by Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop and Franklyn Rose. Dillon, then a rookie, would have been gathering the kind of experience he used to spearhead the bowling this time, with eight wickets in the game.

The apparent problem with the new breed of fast bowlers is that they weren't learning fast enough and this perhaps delayed the retirement of both Ambrose and Walsh, who might have felt on occasion that the baton they were passing on would not be in safe hands.

When they eventually did the light at the end of the tunnel looked quite dim. Scores of over 400 became the norm and the expected pessimism and despondency among the fans set in.

On the downside, there must be some concern that the lower order continues to be virtually non-existent and would be of little or no help if a real crisis develops.

On this occasion the lower order's contributions would not have made a big difference because of what the frontline batsmen were able to do and not to mention what they in their roles of bowlers were first able to achieve in restricting India to a first innings score of just 102. This undoubtedly provided the springboard for the victory.

And, no, one swallow doesn't make a summer but there were pleasant reminders of what and where West Indies cricket used to be. We can hardly wait for more timely reminders.

© The Barbados Nation

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Series/Tournaments

India tour of West Indies

Grounds

Kensington Oval