The West Indies lost the fourth and crucial Test match with the very first decision made in the game. Having won the toss, for some ungodly reason Carl Hooper elected to field first. It was a decision that surprised even South African captain Shaun Pollock.

This, mind you, despite the fact that Hooper's team included three spinners in the captain himself, Dininath Ramnarine and new boy Neil McGarrell.

It should also be remembered that the West Indies capitulated badly to lose the second Test in Trinidad & Tobago, and subsequently nearly lost the third Test at Barbados for the same reason - the team's inability to bat properly on a "turning" last-day pitch.

As if that was not enough, the teams were specifically told by Mr Fredericks, the head curator of the Antigua Recreation Ground, that as the game became older there would be purchase for the slower bowlers.

I believe that two things happened to the West Indies on the first day. Simply put, they began to panic, almost as expected. Pressure is being put on them from all quarters to win something, very soon, so that their "product", the supposedly enterprising West Indies cricket, could be "sold".

While West Indies cricket has the history of being attractive, it has become so poor and drab recently that it is simply very hard to sell. Hence, the panic of going against, or perhaps even without, a plan. On that first day Hooper made the fundamental mistake of operating as if he thought that he had three fast bowlers in his team, and not, as was the case, three spinners.

Having said all of that, though, one must also agree that any team getting a Test team out for less that 250, bowling first, has done pretty well. With a bit more enterprise, and perhaps some fortune, South Africa might not have made, probably should not have made, no more than 200, after being 148-7 at one stage. However, fortune only favors the brave and the West Indies could not suggest that they were brave with that first decision of the game.

I also get the feeling that the opening batsmen, Wavell Hinds and Chris Gayle, and maybe even some of the team's operational officials, including the coach, Roger Harper, are simply unsure as to the team's ability. If opening batsmen cannot cope with the swinging, moving ball at Test level, then, simply, they must take up other sports, as these aspects will not go away.

One of the West Indies openers was even overheard to say "I can only bat this way, and this is the way I got my runs in the past, so why should I change now?" I am here to tell any batsman that if they cannot change their styles and alter their approach, especially when they have been failing regularly, then they need serious help with their approach to professional sport.

South Africa are not a fluke team. They study every aspect of the game thoroughly and effect a simple plan - make the opposition uncomfortable by playing to their weaknesses. Just for a bit of research, think about this: sincethe first Test in Guyana, when Gayle made a good 81, how many deliveries has he had to play his favorite cover drive? The answer - very few indeed.

South Africa has already worked out the West Indies openers.

According to Hooper, "Our openers are not giving us the ideal starts, and the middle order batsmen are coming to the crease much too early in the piece." I agree with that, but in the meantime what is the coach doing to change the attitude of the openers, so that they can become more circumspect. And what is Joe Hoad, the psychologist, doing to counteract the "this is how I always bat and I cannot change it" attitude?

It was wonderful to watch Brian Lara bat while it lasted, but it was too little too late. At least Hooper and the West Indies think-tank used the two right-handers in the main batting line-up properly. Hooper came to the crease instead of Lara when he saw that Nicky Boje was spinning webs around the left-handers' off stump, while Ramnaresh Sarwan was used properly too.

To be very honest, and confirmed by Hooper, no team that makes 140 in any innings of a Test match deserves to even have a chance to win, yet the West Indies did have that chance, albeit a slim chance, while Brian Lara was at the crease. Few would forget the 153 he made in Barbados against Australia in 1999. That innings of Lara's is probably the best ever played in the Caribbean.

For a time on the last day, it looked as if Lara would reincarnate himself, despite being abandoned by both Sarwan and Ridley Jacobs. By then, though, Pollock, who got the first three wickets of the final day, was at his best and probably quickest for the tour, maybe trying to show Jacques Kallis that he will have some opposition to find out whom should be called "the world's best all-rounder".

At least Lara showed that he still has the goods, especially under duress and severe external stimuli. The external stimuli from the South Africans is their variation with at least six bowlers to use coupled with their ability to keep the consistency of their cricket, be it batting, bowling or fielding.

The South African preparation is a joy to behold and one hopes that the West Indies can copy the best part of this since their preparation for these Tests has been a joke.

While Lara played well, he still needs, as he suggested, "to be as consistent as players like Steve Waugh and Sachin Tendeulkar". For the sake of West Indies cricket, I hope that Lara's consistency starts now. The youths of the West Indies team need a positive batting example, not the idea that when they make 39s or 40s that they have been good enough. That is hardly so at Test level.

Lara batted like a man possessed for his 91, and while, in the end, it was futile, it was wonderful to watch, enjoy and even think "If only ...". His innings included eight fours and four sixes and even though he did get a chance too, badly dropped by Makaya Ntini at square leg, at least we saw that Lara can still lead from the front.

Lara will find little solace in the fact that South Africa won by "only" 72 runs. While Lara did all in his power, and was ninth out, the rest of the West Indies batting should look at themselves in the mirror, and hopefully, they will not like what they see there. In a phrase, as Hooper suggested "We batted badly." At least Hooper is starting to learn a bit. He is now using understatement.

The despair is starting to grip West Indies cricket again. The supporters are now so very tired of losing. Indeed, a former West Indian fast bowler suggested that maybe the emphasis is now too much on trying to be a winning team.

Well, I would say differently. How are these players to become winners if they never experience the euphoria of winning anything? It is no wonder that everyone in the West Indies team smiles when they lose a game. They may even now be starting to like it, so long it has been since they have won anything.

In the meantime, that former fast bowler also played in a time when the West Indies lost more than they won, so he too may not have ever understood the meaning of winning consistently and regularly.

The final day was truly South African captain Pollock's, and no-one would suggest that he was not the rightful man of the match, as he took the morning session for his team.

Pollock now has the aura that whatever happens to his team, he will be there to help them out of any hole. In his one innings in the drawn Guyana Test, he made 17 not out. In Trinidad & Tobago, he made 15 not out and 8. In Barbados, he made 106 and 40, all batting at nine. In Antigua, "promoted" to eight, Pollock was not dismissed, getting 48 not out and 41 not out. This guy takes his responsibility very seriously, and is getting the best from his players.

Pollock may have been somewhat worried at Lara's onslaught, but he would also have realized that the middle was already gone, so the tail would seldom stand in those circumstances. It was just a matter of time.

Strangely, the pitch did not play as badly on the last day as expected, but Boje still finished with 4-118 from 45 marathon overs, while Pollock had 3-41 and Kallis 2-23. McGarrel had a good start to his bowling in Test cricket, but his body language on the field also suggests that he has already cultivated the wrong underachieving attitude of the present West Indies team.

How the West Indies retaliate in Jamaica in a week's time could be interesting. They panicked badly in Barbados and in Antigua & Barbuda. Now, somehow, they have to regroup.

Regrouping for the West Indies will not be easy. Without proper starts, the middle order will again be suspect. The openers will simply have to learn that patience is a virtue, since the South Africans will give no leeway.

In the meantime, South Africa, after winning the fourth Test, would be looking to finish with a flourish, trying as best as they could to win the fifth too and finish the West Indies off 3-0. If the West Indies are to avoid that happening, they will have to be much more positive.

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