Tony Becca
THE WEST Indies performance in Brisbane is still hurting, and it has nothing to do with the fact that they lost the Test match or that their bowling was not good enough.
It has to do with the fact that the West Indies batting, a line-up that included Christopher Gayle, Devon Smith, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels, crashed for 210 and 129 on a good pitch.
Although they were up against Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, two of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game; even though, based on recent performances, it was not surprising, the performance of the West Indies batsmen was pathetic and embarrassingly so.
Was it because Lara got a bad decision in the first innings? Was it because Chanderpaul got a bad decision in the second innings? Is it that they simply cannot bat - that they are not as good as so many believe. Or, is it that something else is wrong?
Although Lara was looking good at the time and his dismissal may well have affected the West Indies, it is difficult to blame one decision for the failure of the West Indies batsmen, and despite the obvious flaw in Gayle's technique while dealing with deliveries pitched on or outside the offstump and the failure of Samuels to convert his obvious talent into production, it is also difficult to say that they cannot bat.
Without even looking at Lara - who is undoubtedly one of the greatest batsmen of all time - Chanderpaul has scored 14 centuries with a top score of 203 not out, Gayle has scored seven centuries with a top score of 317, Sarwan has scored eight centuries with a top score of 261 not out, Smith and Samuels have scored a century each, not against Zimbabwe or Bangladesh, but against England and India, and looking at the bowling of both teams, this scoreline suggests they can bat.
A MENTAL PROBLEM?
Something else, therefore, must be wrong, and looking at the way they keep getting out, at the tentative strokes to sometimes harmless deliveries - to deliveries that should be driven through the offside, to deliveries that should be cut, it could be mental. It could be a lack of confidence in dealing with bowlers of such skill.
It could also be, however, a lack of pride in performance.
According to the Oxford dictionary, pride is a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from achievements, qualities, or possessions that do one credit, and based on the manner in which they sometimes get out, or the ease with which they sometimes hand up their wickets, West Indies batsmen of today do not seem to possess it.
Regardless of what coach Bennett King may say, even though they act as if they are united in the field, their body language does not suggest they really are united. It is not one for all and all for one, and if it is not, it can and will be detrimental to the team especially so to the batting where one mistake, one careless stroke, can lead to the end of an innings.
Based on the batsmen in the team, the West Indies batting should be better than it is, and even though Australia's top order is not as strong as it used to be and the West Indies bowling can, with a little luck, do a bit of damage, it is the West Indies batting that can prevent a 3-0 whitewash.
In the first Test, however, the West Indies batsmen, for whatever reason, batted as if they had resigned themselves to their fate. They batted without conviction; they were easy pickings for Australia's accurate and skilled bowlers, and if they do not stand up and bat, it will be three for Australia and not even a draw for the West Indies.
It is high time the West Indies batsmen to earn their keep.
