Different day, same story

Haydn Gill10-May-2001Different day, same story. It was depressing. It was misery. It wasdemoralising.And for the fourth time in succession, West Indian spectators left thearena in disgust, disbelief and despair after the Caribbean sidetamely handed over the Cable & Wireless One-Day Trophy at KensingtonOval yesterday.In a carbon copy of preceding matches, the West Indies made a mountainin trying to set South Africa an inadequate target of 200 and theirbowlers were again taken to the sword by the rampaging HerschelleGibbs.The 27-year-old right-handed opening batsman unleashed a flurry ofimpressive strokes in an unbeaten 107 and as the afternoon progressed,the capacity crowd became disenchanted and disinterested over the onesided nature of the match.In Antigua and Grenada, South Africa completed similar targets for theloss of two wickets with 20-something balls in reserve. Yesterday,they lost an additional wicket, but they wrapped up the no-contestwith as many as 58 balls to spare.West Indies captain Carl Hooper, however, was not as down-spirited asthe majority of those who left Kensington with glum faces knowingSouth Africa had taken an unbeatable 4-1 lead in the seven-matchseries.Obviously, it is disappointing, but such is life, Hooper said.We have to move on and we’ve got to hold our heads up high, keepworking hard and we’ll come through.There was clearly a vast difference between the two sides in theshorter version of the game as South Africa effortlessly marchedtowards their target.As I have been saying since the first game, there is no need to feelembarrassed whenever we lose to a team like South Africa, Hooper said.They are a disciplined, professional bunch and we need to play goodcricket for 100 overs to beat them.We just managed to muster 200 runs which is not enough and we paid thefull price. We’ve got to learn from our mistakes and it’s going to bea slow, long and painful process.The first ten overs of the South African replay produced nineboundaries and Hooper almost exclusively relied on spin afterwards tothe extent that rookie fast bowler Kerry Jeremy was never given asingle ball.There was nothing wrong with him, Hooper said.It’s just the way that the game panned out. As it turned out, theopportunity never presented itself to bowl Jeremy.The wicket gripped and turned a little bit and as a result I thoughtI’d continue with spin.Gibbs, who was also awesome in the field, romped to his second centuryin the series and fifth of his career with the kind of daringaggression that he has displayed whenever he has been at the crease.Among his 11 fours and three sixes were breathtaking strokes,including the now trademark charge against the fast bowlers.Boeta Dippenaar, Gary Kirsten and Jacques Kallis helped him inhastening a victory that was achieved before 4:30 p.m.Cameron Cuffy and Mervyn Dillon were belted around and even though theoff-spin of Hooper and Marlon Samuels was containing at times theresult was obvious.Sent in on an ideal batting strip, the West Indies could not mount achallenging total in spite of Brian Lara’s quality 92 off 125 balls.It was spiced with nine fours, including a few fierce pulls, but at nostage could the champion left-hander move into fifth gear because ofthe regular flow of wickets.Whenever a partnership appeared to be developing, the South Africansregained the initiative.Captain Shaun Pollock set the tone as usual with a tight spell at thestart and Jacques Kallis despatched the tenth opening combination theWest Indies have turned to since last summer’s tour of England.Chris Gayle’s askew footwork was his downfall yet again, the lefthander edging an expansive flash to the keeper in a dismissal that wasalmost mirrored later by his fellow Jamaican Marlon Samuels.It led many to ask why batsmen with such big reputations continue tobe exposed by technical deficiencies.The one young batsman who is supposed to be well-organised, DarenGanga, was presumably brought into the team to ensure there was somesolidity at the top of the order.He banged the first ball of the day to the cover boundary and playedsoundly for the first ten overs.But, as has become a frustrating habit, whenever he attempts anaggressive stroke he perishes, and this time it was a miscued pullthat resulted in a skied catch to the keeper.It was refreshing to see Lara and Hooper in at No 3 and 4 for thefirst time in the series and the pair was trying to rebuild theinnings when Makhaya Ntini ended a stand of 44 in 11.3 overs with thebest ball of the match.It was a yorker that knocked back Hooper’s middle stump and the WestIndies captain was gone after another solid start.After the seventh-ball dismissal of Samuels that left the West Indies73 for four in the 24th over, Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul had toconsolidate things.They were involved in a stand of 43 in 8.5 overs before Chanderpaul’sindecision over a quick single brought his downfall after Gibbs threwdown the stumps at cover with a direct hit at the bowler’s end.With overs seemingly ticking over rapidly, the West Indies needed amajor boost and there was some hope when Lara and Jacobs were adding51 in 10.4 overs.The happy hour had just started, but it lasted only a few minutes.Jacobs hoisted Ntini over mid-wicket and onto the Greenidge and HaynesStand for the only six of the innings, but within a few balls he wasprised out by a piece of magical brilliance from Gibbs.Very few people in the stands actually realised that Gibbs hadclutched onto a right-handed effort inches off the ground with a fullstretch dive that intercepted a fierce cover-drive.When Jacobs was out in the 43rd over, Lara was already in the 80s, buthe was handicapped by the inability of the tail-enders to preservetheir wickets.In Jeremy’s case, he could not even get bat onto ball for foursuccessive deliveries in the 48th over when Lara was on 90.Jeremy was eventually bowled by Kallis from the first ball of thefinal over and it left Lara with no choice but to have a slog.