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Day 1: West Indies slump to combination of Warne and Bevan
Peter Roebuck

A STAGGERINGLY inept batting performance has left the West Indians at the mercy of their opponents. After choosing to bat first against hosts rejuvenated by rest and invigorated by a pep talk from a distinguished football coach (not Terry Venables), the West Indians capitulated in the most abject manner.

It's hard to recall a worse batting effort by any team with the remotest pretension in matters of ``middle and leg, please'' and elbow up. Four of the visiting batsmen average more than 50 in Test cricket, yet they batted like mugs. Truly it is not enough to peck greatness upon the cheek, it must be held in the firmest of grips. At present none of the West Indians can be considered a contender. Only by a stirring fightback can they redeem themselves, and to see them slumping from the field was to believe reparation is beyond them.

Brian Lara had particular reason to be ashamed. Much depended upon him, because Curtly Ambrose's groin had not healed sufficiently to allow him to play. Patently it was a mistake to persist with him in the 50-overs matches. As great cricketers can, even in their declining years, Ambrose had carried the day in Melbourne. Now it was Lara's turn.

All humanity is frail. Great men are supposed to be a bit less frail, that is all. As usual, Lara was swiftly called to the crease, Sherwin Campbell falling as he edged a searching outswinger from Glenn McGrath, and Adrian Griffith falling to Andrew Bichel, a powerfully built Queenslander used to the hurly-burly of rugby league.

Lara seemed torn between swishing and defence as the Australians forced him to work. Nevertheless, the West Indies had reached 45 for two as noon passed. Already Michael Bevan was bowling his spinners, the locals having nervously packed their side with batting.

And then Mark Taylor tossed the ball to Shane Warne, a bowler treated with contempt by Lara during the white-ball matches. Shivnarine Chanderpaul took a single from the leg spinner's third delivery, and now it was the champion's turn. Then came an explosion. Of what? Arrogance? Immaturity? Not bothering to take a look at Warne, Lara swung hugely at his opening offering, and succeeded only in lobbing a catch to mid-on.

A hush surely now fell in the visitors' room. It was the stroke of a man suffering from psychological damage, a man unable to take charge of himself or his situation. It was a grievous blow to West Indian hopes, and they did not recover. At 58, Chanderpaul was held at slip as Warne changed his angle, and soon afterwards Carl Hooper was taken in the slips as he flirted with a bumper. Jimmy Adams lasted until lunch had been taken, only to drive a dipping leg break back to the bowler. Australia were playing thorough cricket, and it was enough.

Junior Murray alone spent long at the crease, and even he fell recklessly as he pulled a shortish ball to midwicket to give Bevan some encouragement. Not since his ankle-biter days had Bevan been chosen primarily as a bowler, but he did not freeze, and his googlies were too much for a swinging tail.

The West Indies had fallen for 130 on a pitch demanding 350. Australia had bowled them out with a reduced attack. It had been awful to watch, and the sun-bathed crowd was subdued. Perhaps they felt robbed.

Although the travails of Taylor continued, Australia were soon giving the pitch its due. Desperately seeking to secure their places, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer endured nervous moments before they took charge of an attack notable chiefly for Ian Bishops's probing opening spell. Hayden cut and pulled as his confidence grew, and Langer tucked runs off his pads so neatly that it was a surprise to see him lose his wicket to a loose cut.

No further casualties were suffered in the hour before stumps. Mark Waugh was in especially svelte form as he gave his muscular partner sound support. Freshened by their rest, Australia had played some convincing cricket. Wearied by their efforts, the West Indians had seemed dreadfully brittle. Somehow the fire was burning brightly in one team, and the flame was low in the opposing ranks.

But the memory of the day was the sight of the holder of so many records, and the bearer of such responsibility, throwing away his wicket with the sort of stroke with which schoolmasters are painfully familiar.

The West Indies selectors will be casting a keen eye on the Red Stripe Cup when it begins on Friday, searching for a new generation of world-class bowlers. A dearth of young talent has recently left Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh with a great deal of responsibility in the twilight of their careers.

The West Indies may have to rely more on spin than on sheer pace in their international bowling line-up for the first time in 15 years. Finding batsmen, however, does not seem to be too much of a problem - players like Ramnaresh Sarwan, of Guyana, Leon Garrick, of Jamaica, and Shirley Clarke, of Barbados, are making strong claims.

Day 2: Australia poised to end West Indies era
Simon Hughes

YOU would have thought the do-or-die significance of this match and the jingoistic hype surrounding Australia Day would have strengthened West Indies' fibre and ensured a meaty contest in the fourth Test this weekend. But no, there was nothing more than gristle on the world champions' carcass. When Australia wrap up this match, and thus the series, sometime in the next couple of days, the great West Indies era will be officially over.

The signs have been there for a while, of course, but the comedy of errors in the field yesterday, added to their abysmal batting display on Saturday, confirms they are a body badly in need of sustenance. The alarming way they capitulated once Curtly Ambrose was ruled out of the match with injury only reaffirms how dependent they have become on his skill and inclination. A fired-up, zealous Ambrose incites the West Indies to break down doors; when he is jaded or absent their challenge dribbles away into the gutter.

After their embarrassing batting collapse, the only way back into the match was to field and bowl with tigerish intensity, but instead the West Indies stumbled about like dozy rhinos. Matthew Hayden was rarely obliged to play much of the detritus sent down in the first hour, which partly explains why he was stuck on his overnight score for the best part of it. During that time he also smashed one of a spate of no balls from Ian Bishop straight into point's hands, and, shortly afterwards would have been caught at slip off Courtney Walsh if only Junior Murray had not suddenly decided to fly across and tip it round the post.

Mark Waugh was meanwhile making serene progress with those easy drives and dreamy clips, watched enthusiastically by his girlfriend Sue and all the other players' wives who have played a full part in the Australians admirable preparations for this match, even staying in the same room as their other halves. Radical eh? Waugh had a stroke of luck on 70 when umpire David Shepherd failed to pick up an edge on to pad, as Jimmy Adams swooped at silly point, then Hayden, powered by determination rather than rare talent, reached a maiden Test century - in six hours - with a square cut to the fence. The son of a peanut farmer, he is not yet the full packet but his shell is mighty tough.

No wickets fell in the morning session, and 20,000 boisterous spectators were just starting to toast a potential massacre when Mark Waugh snicked a cut, Hayden tried to repeat a booming six over mid off and missed, and Steve Waugh conspired to hack a long hop to extra cover. The beers were abandoned and the crowd went silent, but it was the West Indies who became befuddled.

Another no ball reprieved local protoge Greg Blewett as he edged to slip, and a sketchy Michael Bevan should have been caught behind and stumped in the same over before dragging a further no ball into his stumps. None of these bloops were perpetrated by Walsh, but the West Indies' out-cricket touched pantomime when the captain spilled a sitter at mid-on as the enterprising Blewett top-edged a pull. Brian Lara left the field shortly afterwards, presumably sick with embarrassment.

In a way, though, it was his slipshod performance on the first morning that had set the Australian ball rolling. In a flouncy mood after the team management had refused him a days' leave last week to play golf with Nick Faldo in Queensland, Lara brought his body to the wicket but left his brain on the tee, attempted an outrageous slog at the first ball he received from Shane Warne and holed out to mid-on. They will need a good deal more responsibility from him in the second innings to take this contest into a fifth day.

Day 4: West Indies pay for lack of planning
Simon Hughes

THE old motto ``if you fail to prepare then you prepare to fail'' clanged deafeningly throughout this one-sided Test at the Adelaide Oval, won by the Australians by an innings and 183 runs. Apparently deaf to the game's importance, the weary West Indians had coasted through their usual routine of aimless nets and throwdowns.

Their fielding drills were lackadasical and while Courtney Walsh is a fine bowler, he is no resourceful leader of tired, flawed men. Curtly Ambrose is their chief operator, and once he was ruled out their bowling attack offered little more than general practice.

This was gratefully accepted by the Australians, who left nothing to chance. Their training was disciplined, focused and detailed and they brought in a distinguished Australian Rules coach for motivation. I was struck by how meticulously individual players practised, batsmen simulating match situations, swearing and cursing if they played a loose shot, bowlers setting particular fields, perfecting variations.

Shane Warne said he had planned to use the crease to left handers to create a different angle and in the game's second over he went wider of the crease to Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The ball drifted across him, took the edge and was snaffled by Mark Taylor. Having dismissed Brian Lara for nine in the previous over, Warne had effectively driven a stake through the West Indies midriff, and they were powerless to stop the bleeding.

Warne's spin partnership with Michael Bevan could become the scourge of every team in the world, despite Bevan claiming after his 10-wicket match haul in Adelaide that he is still ``only a part-time bowler''. Warne's mastery of control and subtle variation is mesmerising enough but in tandem with Bevan's breakneck chinamen and wrong 'uns, there is no respite.

They are backed up by Ian Healy, the wicketkeeper all bowling attacks would love to have. He misses nothing. The West Indian inadequacy against spin gave him plenty of scope, and it must be said that no one, not even England at their worst, could bat as badly as the West Indies did here.

Mark Taylor singled out Healy's contribution after he had become the second Australian captain to retain the Frank Worrell trophy. ``Ian's had a great series with the bat and behind the poles,'' Taylor said. ``Some of his catches were fantastic and he makes them look so easy.'' One example yesterday was when Healy clung on to Lara's bottom edge off Warne.

It was Taylor who argued for Bevan's inclusion as an all-rounder here and the match was a triumph for the fitness freak, who scored a turgid 85 and took 10 for 113. The man of the match award was a foregone conclusion.

Taylor feels the 3-1 score with one Test to play reflects the contrasting ability of the teams. ``We've got a strong, talented side and we've played some excellent cricket. The West Indies have based their game plan on four fast bowlers for the last 20 years, we overcame that in 1995 and we've done it again here. I suppose their formula is a bit outdated.'' You can say that again.

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