South Africa v West Indies, 1st Test, Port Elizabeth

West Indies need a miracle

Tony Cozier

December 23, 2007

A fragile West Indian batting line-up could do with a fit Chris Gayle © Getty Images

Four days before the first of their three Tests against South Africa, the West Indies should have been engaged in their last chance for meaningful match practice against South Africa A in East London.

Instead, chastened by their ten-wicket defeat in three days on Friday, they took an early coach ride to Port Elizabeth, arriving in time for a couple of hours of practice on a warm, cloudless afternoon at St George's Park, the venue for the Test that starts on Boxing Day - and, as any scrap of encouragement is welcome, also their victory over South Africa in the 13-overs-an-innings Twenty20 international a week ago.

The sight of captain Chris Gayle participating in every discipline raised hope that his right hamstring, torn in the second ODI in Zimbabwe, would be deemed sufficiently healed by physiotherapists Jacqui Mowat-King and CJ Smith for him to lead the team in a Test for the first time and, just as critically, to take his place at the top of the order.

His movements are, without overstating the case, measured at the best of times so it is impossible to make out the extent of his progress. But he is so vital to the fragile batting that he will almost certainly turn out if at all possible.

The attention of new coach John Dyson and his associates, Hendy Springer and David Williams, needs to be directed rather on the mental than on the technical and physical.

The failure of the batting in both innings against South Africa's reserve fast bowlers presented an immediate challenge for Dyson, the Australian who has been with the team only since its arrival from Zimbabwe two weeks ago.

Monde Zondeki, tall, slim and sharp, has regained the form and fitness that gained him Test selection in 2003, aged 21, and a tour to the West Indies in 2005 when he numbered among his victims Brian Lara for 4 in the Antigua Test that featured four hundreds for either side.

Even though he was the first to 50 first-class wickets for the current [South African domestic] season in the West Indies match [earlier than any previous South African] and as well as the experienced Charl Langeveldt might have bowled, they are not in the class of the Test quartet of Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel, Shaun Pollock and, the fastest and most threatening, Dale Steyn.

Steyn, with a little help from the others, so destroyed New Zealand with 20 wickets in the two Tests in Johannesburg and Centurion last month that they were routed for totals of 118, 172, 188 and 136 and were beaten in four days by 358 runs in the first and in three days by an innings in the second.

Events in East London have reinforced general opinion here that the coming Tests will follow the same pattern.

South Africa have moved up to No. 2 behind Australia on the ICC Test rankings but are keen to pull clear of India and Sri Lanka with whom they are level.

They can be expected to be as ruthless as they were in their two previous home series against West Indies that yielded eight wins in nine Tests with the other drawn. Yet their former captain, Kepler Wessels, has held out some hope for the West Indies to at least make a fight of it.

"The best opportunity for the West Indies will be in the first Test," he wrote in his newspaper column on Saturday.

With Graeme Smith rested on medical advice after the ODIs against New Zealand and Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, Hashim Amla, Nel and Ntini all excused from duty for their provincial sides since the New Zealand series ended three weeks ago, Wessels warned South Africa "might be a bit rusty".

"They may also regard beating West Indies as a formality so it is important from the touring team's point of view that they start well and make an impression," he said. "Once South Africa hits its straps, it will need a special effort for the West Indies to compete."

The problem is that the "special effort" demands attributes palpably lacking in West Indies teams for more than a decade. "The key for the West Indian players will be mental strength and physical toughness, as well as good discipline and a high work ethic," Wessels wrote. Such a sudden transformation would be nothing short of a miracle needed to make the match, and the series, a real contest.

© Trinidad & Tobago Express

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Players/Umpires

John Dyson

Chris Gayle

Hendy Springer

Kepler Wessels

David Williams

Series/Tournaments

West Indies tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa

Teams

South Africa

West Indies