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DEAR REDIFF

Antigua "test" of fans' patience gets underway

Prem Panicker

Finally, after rain had washed out the first three days of play, the fourth Test of the Cable & Wireless Series between India and the West Indies got underway, on Monday, at the Recreation Ground, St John's, Antigua.

Question being, why?

If the match was being played because it was on the official schedule, then it was an exercise in futility - the schedule certainly did not provide for a two-day "Test", and with both boards showing no interest in extending the game into a five-day affair, the decision to play just the last two days was an exercise in futility.

And if the idea of playing this game was because spectators had already payed good money for it - the equivalent of Rs 800 for seats in the good stands, and Rs 300 for the bleachers - then there weren't more than a handful of spectators around to thank the organisers for their courtesy.

So what is the whole point of this exercise, anyway? Given the amount of cricket that is being played these days, I am pretty sure the players of both sides would have welcomed the total abandonment of the game (given, that is, that a meaningful Test was not possible anyway). At the very least, the players would have been able to enjoy a few of the 365 beaches Antigua is dotted with.

But no, a Test was scheduled, so a Test must be played - even if the only thing this exercise 'tests' is our collective patience.

The match referee having decided that cricket, however pointless, would be played over the remaining two days, India to my mind lost a great opportunity to get some benefit out of it.

The team that took the field showed two changes - Navjot Singh Sidhu sitting out with suspected malaria, leaving Ajay Jadeja and Venkat Laxman to open the batting; and Dodda Ganesh being dropped in favour of Sunil Joshi.

I don't know how you guys feel, but to my mind, the Indian management could have used this opportunity to blood a couple of the guys waiting in the wings, give them a taste of international cricket in a no-pressure situation. One such is Noel David - having been picked as an off spinner, he has spent the last month and more twiddling his thumbs in the dressing room. Had he been capped here, he could have tested his skills against the West Indies batting lineup, and in the process got over the stage fright that invariably attends your international debut, no matter how good you are.

Another player who could have benefitted from a Test cap, on the same logic, is Ravindra Ramnarayan Singh (Robin, to you and me). Or is it the intention of the team management to have him play only the one-dayers?

More to the point, what was the point in having the tired Venkatesh Prasad and Anil Kumble and the increasingly uninterested Mohammad Azharuddin play this one? Wouldn't they have benefitted more by resting, recuperating, and watching the game from the vantage point of the pavilion - where, even as they rested their weary bodies, they would have had the chance to watch the West Indies batsmen play, and plan their own strategies for the fifth Test?

I would, therefore, have liked to see India going in with a lineup that reads thus: Laxman, Jadeja, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Robin Singh, Saba Karim (why not give Mongia too a rest, while we are about it?), Joshi, David, Ganesh, Kuruvilla.

In the event, though, the actual lineup reads: Laxman, Jadeja, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Azharuddin, Mongia, Kumble, Joshi, Kuruvilla and Prasad.

Oh well...

The West Indies, going into the game with one change, skipper Courtney Walsh returning after sitting out the Barbados game with an injured Achilles tendion and replacing Mervyn Dillon in the lineup, won the toss and predictably, opted for batting practise. And straight off, Stuart Williams waved rather lackadaisically at one from Kuruvilla outside off stump and gave Tendulkar catching practise in the slips, to have the batting side at 0/1 in the second over.

Strange though it sounds, the Windies' opening problems have been worse even than India's - since Gordon Greenidge was forced to quit the scene in 1991, there has been just one occasion when the Windies scoreboard has read 100-plus for no loss. This must surely occasion some worry for the Windies management, for no matter how good your numbers three, four and five are - and Chanderpaul, Lara and Hooper make a formidable middle order - an opening pair that doesn't get the side off to a decent start puts pressure on the latter batsmen.

Sherwyn Campbell didn't do too well either - but this was thanks to Ajay Jadeja's wonted brilliance in the field. Campbell pushed to Chanderpaul and took off for the single which, to be fair, would have been an easy one against any other fielder in the Indian side. Jadeja raced across from cover to mid off, picked up and threw down the only stump he could see from that angle, to catch the batsman a foot out of his ground.

Shivnaraine Chanderpaul has looked a changed batsman ever since he got that maiden century in the first innings at Barbados. Earlier, he had the habit of walking, as opposed to shuffling, all over his crease as the bowler got into his delivery stride. And it was very rare to see the southpaw come onto the front foot, unless the ball was half-volley length. Ever since he cracked that 100-barrier after failing to convert 50s into tons on the previous 15 occasions, Chanderpaul has been noticeably coming onto the front foot at every opportunity. And here again he looked in good touch, till Anil Kumble made one jump at him to take the inner edge onto pad, for Laxman to dive forward at short square leg to hold the catch, Chanderpaul making 24.

That brought Brian Lara and Carl Hooper together. And as I write this, shortly before lunch, the two most brilliant strokeplayers in the West Indies lineup are playing with an obduracy and an emphasis on defense that would have been more understandable had this been the first day of a five-day Test. There is nothing in the wicket, and very little in the bowling, to merit such intense defense, but as I write, the score is 53/3, with Lara, who on the ground on which in 1993-1994 he broke the world record with a superb 375 against England, batting on 8 after having remained runless for 25 deliveries, while Hooper is batting on 6.

Given the absolute lack of competitive interest in this game, we will end this report at this stage, and update tomorrow. In the meantime, stay safe...