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West Indies appears solid outfit

Hyderabad (India), Feb 17: An expected the West Indies brushed aside Zimbabwe in their first match of the tournament on Friday at Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad. Some fine leg spin bowling by Paul Strang, the young Zimbabwean tarnished the width of victory for the West Indians and instead of winning by at least nine wickets they eventually claimed the two points at stake by reaching their target in 29.3 overs. Another .3 remained unbowled. They were set just 152 to win.

Strang, with a googly that gave everyone trouble to read, bowled Sherwin Campbell with one that passed through the gap between bat and pad. Before this Richie Richardson guided one that bounced a bit more than he expected, into the hands of the solitary slip. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Keith Arthurton, both left-handers, discovered ways of getting out late in the day,

Chanderpaul, his body not behind the ball, completely missed a high full toss that passed him and landed directly on his leg stump. And Arthurton, right foot too far down the pitch, had to hand too low to make contact with the ball and the extra bounce extracted with the googly rapped him on the gloves and he was well taken in the slip.

But those were the only negative setbacks for the Caribbean men. They appeared well in tune with the situation and it seems that the training camp in Barbados worked for them. The fielding was remarkable, running out three batsmen, two with direct hits. The bowling, though steady, still lacked the consistency of length and line that is required at this level. But there was more enthusiasm in it than I have seen for a long time. The batting was at last positive, with running between the wickets being the top drawer stuff that it always ought to be. I understand that this was one of the main areas of concentration in the week's camp and the difference is noticeable.

On a perfect day, a typical Indian pitch, good for batting with a bit of turn for the bowlers, Andy Flower, the captain of Zimbabwe called correctly and chose to take first knock. Interestingly, Flower is not only the captain, but he also opens the innings and keeps wicket.

He was soon out, Curtly Ambrose tempting him to touch one behind. He is also the best batsman in the side and with his early dismissal the innings was always on shaky legs. There were two dropped catches early on which might seem to contradict the good fielding mentioned. Roger Harper could not hold onto a square cut from Guy Whittal when in the gully off Ambrose and Brian Lara made a brilliant effort diving full length to his right at first slip off an edge by the same batsman, but could not persuade the bail to stay in his grasp.

The reaction by the fieldsmen themselves after these near misses spoke volumes for the team spirit that now exists.

Lara looks as fresh as sea breeze and the break from international cricket has done him a world of good. In his batting he mistimed a number of deliveries but did deliver two master blows. The pitch of the strokes played was when he deposited a not too short ball from the impressive Heath Streak, into the stand at deep mid-wicket. Then the flourish when he ended the match driving the destructive Strang way over long off. These were the only two sixes of the day and the crowd lapped them up.

Lara is as popular as ever in India and so is the West Indies team so there has been no animosity for the Sri Lankan affair. The world record holder many times over, got 43 not out, and the determination and his relaxed manner should be a cause for concern for the other teams.

Campbell and Richardson took their times to play themselves in and the first boundary was not struck until the tenth over with the total on 32. But it was sound stuff on which to build an innings and long may in continue.

The West Indians must be happy to start off with a convincing win, although it is against the lowly-rated Zimbabweans. It is still a lot of pressure brought upon you when you have to beat one of these no-raters. But The Management of the team must be pleased to see the exuberance of a side that has been tearing itself apart lately. All the problems have been forgotten for the time being in order to create a force with on goal and to bury the hatchet to achieve this, the performance of the team being more critical than the needs of its individuals. West Indies appears a solid outfit that will be a power to deal with in this World Cup judging from their approach in this match.