by Well its all over. Congrats to Aus for playing hard,disciplined cricket.
The proudest record in international sport is history, and some lessons
must be learnt. The real gap between the sides was in the appication
of the batsmen. Steve Waugh applied himself, and in the last test
got support from his brother, and Healy, Boon on earlier occasions.
Not once did the WI do the same. credit must go to the Aus bowling
which was tight and again disciplined. The performance on the
whole by the Aus can be summed up by the word disciplined -
something that Mark taylor can take credit for.
For the WI, Lara showed that fame can go to the head, and not once
did he justify his 'great' tag. Great to us WI fans is someone who
can hold his game together when all around is chaos. Lara batted
like he did not welcome responsibility. Admittedly the other
batsmen's poor form did put undue pressure on him, but that's
where greatness can be defined. ARthurton was terrible, and Hooper
not far behind. Williams, well, probably best left alone as he
had a horrible series. The bowling was hampered by the lack of
consistent penetration, ie it came and went in spells. The
fielding of both sides was good, but again WI dropped
Steve Waugh four times, most crucially being the last, a
straightforward catch that Browne muffed (and Murray wouldn't).
With Waugh being on 46 at the time, it is not quibbling to
say that it is on such moments that matches, (and indeed careers)
are won/built.
Though it feels like shit to have lost (my first experience of this
in my life - series lost at home), nothing but good ca come out
of this. Wi cricket rolled along on the basis that if it ain't broke
don't fix it. It's just a pity that the team for England had
already been selected. I expect Chanderpaul to be slotted into the
team, and the two Benjamins to be pensioned off. Also, if no
other fast bowlers step up, ie Cuffy/Drakes/Rose, then spin will get
its chance for a permanent slot in the team.
Above all, this loss gives WI cricket the impetus it needs to become
focussed. The Frank Worrel Trophy will become a holy grail again,
and England et al will all become dangers to our supposed decline.
My last thought on all this is that we should have lost to Pakistan in
1988 (a great team), and though this Aus team played well, ie
outbowled and batted the WI, the WI performance was poor. I expect
WI to win back the Frank Worrel Trophy when next we meet Aus because,
we will have learnt during that time that no one remembers an era
of *** - (the press in England/Aus have awaited this for years)
, they only note its passing. Aus win series 2-1. Well played.
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The problem with the rat race is even if you win you're still a rat