The showdown between the West Indies and Australia may not quite be the advertisement Test cricket badly wants.
The West Indies still don’t have the depth and experience to consistently challenge quality teams while Australia is a mere shadow of previous touring teams of the Caribbean.
Test cricket needs star power and exciting players if it is ever to loom large and once more have huge crowds in attendance.
Every sport needs names to sell them. Nearly as fast as a speeding bullet, Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake have done so for track, Lionel Messi and Robin Van Persie are grabbing the headlines with their goalscoring feats in football while Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps have given swimming a golden splash.
Cricket has stars too, but the modern day variety just don’t have the same sparkle as yesteryear. In 1986, everyone wanted to see menacing Patrick Patterson have a go at England; in 1988, Curtly Ambrose burst on the scene and fans were here, there and everywhere for the tour by Pakistan and in 1999, we all wanted to see Brian Lara confront Glen McGrath and Jason Gillespie.
This series, like so many of the last decade, just doesn’t have that. Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle are decent fast bowlers but neither are world class or have the pace to bring out a crowd. Ricky Ponting has more than 13 000 runs, but at 37 he is clearly on the decline, while Mike Hussey and Shiv Chanderpaul will grind the opposition and bore the fans with their laboured works of art.
Kraigg Brathwaite has the patience of Job and has to be lauded for his great powers of concentration, but to face 199 balls on a flat pitch and be scoreless for 168 of them, is taking defensive cricket to the extreme.
Brathwaite is just 19 and playing in his seventh match and clearly has a future in the game, but must recognize that occupation of the crease is just one facet of the game. He has to change gears and remember that full tosses and long hops are to be feasted on.
Is West Indies cricket back at the top? The answer unhesitatingly is no.
Our cricket can’t be strong if the tournament from which you select your team is weak. The standard of play in this year’s first-class season was unquestionably the poorest since 1966 when the Shell Shield officially launched the modern day tournament.
There have been 48 totals under 200, but just 33 over 200 and only one drawn match in 23 games. Fourteen matches finished in less than three days, including three that ended inside two days.
Leewards never made 200 with their par score being 116. They had totals of 98, 102, 39 and 113, 104 and 99, 121 and 177, 138 and 172, 81 and 158. Jamaica have been the only team to pass 400 with totals of 404 versus the Leewards and 454 against Guyana.
Barbadians are bragging about reaching the final, but it’s an idle boast. We never reached 350, were bowled out for 58 last month on home soil by Guyana with a part-time offspinner Narsingh Deonarine grabbing seven for 26.
What’s more, Barbados being led in this weekend’s final against Jamaica, by a player who is not worth his place in the team on merit. Shamarh Brooks is reckoned to have exceptional leadership skills but in 20 first-class matches has been an under-achiever with bat and ball with a batting average of 20.34 and a bowling average of 83.33.
Non-producing captains is a virus infecting Caribbean cricket. Darren Sammy’s whole-hearted commitment and never-say-die attitude can’t be questioned and he gets an A grade for that.
However, that has to be backed up by performances and Sammy comes up short with a batting average of 17 and is not nearly good enough to bowl first change on the opening day of a Test with a first innings wickets average of 45. In second innings when the pitch is deteriorating, he averages 18 runs per wicket.
What about the Aussies? Since Michael Clarke took over as captain in April, the men in the baggy green caps have won a Test series in Sri Lanka, drawn in South Africa, drawn with New Zealand at home, and beaten India. The comprehensive nature of their victories over India has been remarkable, but it cannot be ignored that their opponents were in disarray.
Australia’s goal under Clarke and coach Mickey Arthur is clear. They want to return Australia to the top of the Test rankings. It is a simple objective that will be anything but simple to achieve.
It is also a task that, due to how far they have slipped down the ICC table, is unlikely to be possible until the 2013 Ashes. They rose one place by beating Sri Lanka, but still sit fourth.
It is easy to get carried away with a handful of victories. But it’s important to remember that this side was beaten by New Zealand in Hobart in December, and bowled out for 47 by South Africa in Cape Town in November.
It is clear that much is at stake in this series for both teams. However, both need to know that they not only need to win, but to do so in the attractive way befitting Test cricket.
