CricInfo Home
News Home

NEWS FOCUS
Rsa in Pak
NZ in India
Zim in Aus

Domestic
Other Series

In the classic horses for courses scenario as well as a significant break from tradition the West Indies are putting their faith in three spin bowlers to win the fourth Test, starting at the Antigua Recreation Ground (ARG) today.

They are one down following their defeat by 69 runs in the second Test at the Queen's Park Oval and only a win will keep alive their chances of taking the series and the Sir Viv Richards Trophy, being contested for the first time by the teams.

It is incentive enough and has been boosted by an offer of US$100 000 for victory from the Texan millionaire Adam Santon who had wide business interests in Antigua.

The South Africans have inducement of their own. If they go two up, with one to play, they would be the second team in 18 years, after the 1995 Australians, to clinch a series in the Caribbean.

On the eve of the match, the pitch was dry, grassless and cream-coloured in the middle of the lush green outfield that has existed since they brought in grass from Miami three years ago and laid it down in strips like a carpet.

The almost unanimous view is that it will encourage turn, more and more as the match progresses. That, and the present depletion of the once awesome fast bowling stocks, provide evidence enough for the West Indies selectors to take the bold option they have already contemplated in the series of bolstering their spin bowling at the expense of their fast.

Ironically, the Test has been designated A Dedication To Curtly. Prior to his retirement last September, the great Ambrose bemoaned the lack of support for he and his long-time partner in pace. Even so, he might not have thought then that it would have come so quickly to this.

Neil McGarrell, the 27-year-old orthodox left-armer, is the particular horse introduced for this particular course although he is no thoroughbred.

The extent of his international experience is five One-Day matches two years ago but he has been a reliable performer in his six seasons with Guyana. And, as a batsman, he is a more reassuring presence at No. 8 than those previously used. The most experienced of his type available to the selectors, McGarrell gives Carl Hooper, who also captains him for Guyana, a nice balance.

Like leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine, whose 14 wickets make him leading wicket-taker in the series along with Courtney Walsh and Jacques Kallis, McGarrell turns from leg to off while the captain's off-spin come in the opposite direction.

Ironically, the West Indies bowling, thin as it is, has held its own so far. It has been let down by the generally shoody fielding, with four critical catches missed in the first innings of the third Test, and by the batting that has twice folded when it mattered most.

They have totalled over 300 in four of their six innings, prosperity indeed after the failures in England last summer and Australia more recently.

But they could only muster 162 in the second innings of the second Test, falling 69 short of their winning goal, and were 88 for seven at the end at Kensington on Monday when they had to use questionable, time-wasting tactics to survive.

The return of Shivnarine Chanderpaul brings experience and reliability back to No.3 that it was beyond young Marlon Samuels, who was unjustly put in the position in the first three Tests. Given the conditions, the South Africans were also swaying yesterday towards Paul Adams as the second spinner to Nicky Boje in a pace-based attack.

Both are left-arm but the comparison ends there. Boje is purely orthodox, Adams deals in googlies and chinamen from a contorted action once compared to a frog in a blender.

The right hamstring strain that has ruled out South Africa's premier fast bowler and leading Test wicket-taker (320) opens the way for Adams in an attack that still has four bowlers of speed, captain Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Kallis and Lance Klusener.

For all the speculation over a spinners' pitch and an outright result, the ARG's record makes interesting reading. Seven of the 15 Tests there have been drawn and there have been 32 individual hundreds, including the highest of them all, Brian Lara's 375 against England in 1994.

Teams (from):

West Indies: Carl Hooper (captain), Wavell Hinds, Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Ridley Jacobs, Neil McGarrell, Mervyn Dillon, Dinanath Ramnarine, Courtney Walsh, Cameron Cuffy, Marlon Samuels.

South Africa: Shaun Pollock (captain), Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Daryll Cullinan, Neil McKenzie, Mark Boucher, Lance Klusener, Justin Kemp, Nicky Boje, Makhaya Ntini, Paul Adams,Andre Nel.

Umpires: Eddie Nicholls (West Indies), Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India); Reserve: Clancy Mack; TV replays: Pat Whyte. Match referee: Mike Denness (England).

© The Barbados Nation