“I AM only one person,” Jerome Taylor told the television interviewer at the end of the first day of the second, and final, Test against Australia on Thursday.
At his beloved Sabina Park where he had gathered 23 wickets in four previous Tests at 12 runs apiece, Taylor was more than just “one person”; he was virtually the entire West Indies attack.
He was exceptional through his 25 overs, even as Australia recovered from his opening blast of two wickets without a run from his opening six overs to amass their 399.
Every time he was called on, a wicket seemed likely. His final return of six for 47 might well have been all ten. His reputation was built on his match-winning spell of five for 11 that demolished England for 51 in their Sabina defeat in 2009; this was fast, direct swing bowling every bit as compelling.
He did not concede a run from his first six overs. His third ball took care of David Warner, a snorter that he fended off to second slip, much as he did in the first innings in Dominica. He followed with Shaun Marsh, a spot-on inswinger claiming the other left-handed opener lbw.
Strange decisions
His figures at close of the first day were 15-8-18-3; he was at it again on resumption on Friday with the belatedly claimed second new ball, one of the several strange tactical decisions by captain Denesh Ramdin.
Taylor’s comment after the first day was that he was simply part of a bowling unit.
Taylor’s words had been made all the more relevant even before the captains tossed; the West Indies were forced into three significant changes through a combination of ailments.
Marlon Samuels, the West Indies’ most experienced player and top-scorer in the second innings of the first Test in Dominica, was afflicted with conjunctivitis that affected his vision.
Devendra Bishoo, Taylor’s “only one person” equivalent in Dominica where his guile and sharp leg-spin ran through Australia’s middle order on a slow, turning pitch, was still carrying the sore spinning finger first sustained in the second Test against England in April.
The other absentee, fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, came down with a fever overnight.
It meant a Test debut for Ravendra Chandrika, an opener without a hundred and an average of 25 in 32 first-class matches. Minus Samuels’ often used off-spin, the bowling was stripped to four specialists. Nine of the XI were under 30, six were beginners were fewer than ten Tests on their records.
It has all the makings of a mismatch against strong, confident opponents second on the International Cricket Council’s Test ratings. It required every West Indian to follow Taylor’s advice and “chip in”; few did.
Ramdin claimed the early advantage, winning the toss and bowling first on a pitch that Ian Bishop described on television as covered with more grass than he had ever seen since his first Test at Sabina in 1988.
There were immediate signs that Taylor’s early strikes would amount to little.
The former Test players in the box were bemused by the absence of a short-leg; in no time, Marsh’s inside edge onto pad off Kemar Roach lobbed just where such a fielder would have lurked.
As strong captains through the years have shown – Brendon McCullum of New Zealand is the latest – teams take their lead from their skippers. Ramdin has always been ultra cautious; the present young West Indies require more positive direction.
Not that Ramdin could have inspired better from a below-par Roach, on his return to the team after two Tests, or Bishoo’s fellow Guyanese Veerasammy Permaul.
No-balls
Nor could he prevent the two no-balls that cancelled Roach’s dismissals of captain Michael Clarke, at three, or the annoying No.10 Jos Hazlewood at 11. It was a reversion to a costly habit; twice in successive overs in the Trent Bridge Test of 2009, Alistair Cook had been similarly reprieved.
In the preceding series against England, every catch stuck.
Now, Smith’s edge when 109 off the occasional, yet steady, off-spinner Kraigg Brathwaite was put down by Darren Bravo at slip. Jermaine Blackwood at point failed to hold on to Haddin’s overhead slash off Roach. Ramdin himself muffed a straightforward stumping off Permaul from Hazlewood’s seventh ball.
These were definite signs that the West Indies were rattled, a state of mind reflected in the nervous, yes-no running between Chandrika and Brathwaite that denied the Guyanese his first run. His edge to the ’keeper next ball from a wild drive confirmed his tension.
It presaged the tumble of wickets, subjecting the West Indies to the possibility of another defeat in three days.
It’s no wonder there have been calls in Australia for their scheduled MCG Boxing Day Test and that at the SCG over the New Year on their 2015-16 tour be given to New Zealand instead, a depressing thought for a team that once filled the stands at both those famous grounds.
