Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
THE SECOND Test match between the West Indies and Australia is scheduled for the Bellerive Oval in Hobart and, despite all the talk about correcting the mistakes of the first Test and about being ready and confident, things do not look good for the visitors.
After losing the first Test in Brisbane, the West Indies must win or draw in Hobart to keep alive whatever hope they have of winning or drawing the three-match contest. The way things are looking, however, a victory or a draw for the West Indies may well be wishful thinking.
One reason why it may well be wishful thinking is the fact that the West Indies lost the first Test, not by a few runs or by a few wickets but by a massive 379 runs.
STRONGER
Another reason is that Australia are stronger than the West Indies. Yet another is that while the West Indies, despite all the talk, must be apprehensive going into the match, Australia must be bubbling with confidence.
Still another is that they will be playing on a pitch that is expected to favour spin bowlers - so much so that Shane Warne, the legspinner who took five wickets for 48 runs in the first innings of the first Test, the man who bowled only two overs in the second innings and was a mere spectator while pacers Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken nailed the West Indies in the second innings, is calling for fellow legspinner Stuart MacGill to partner him in this assault on the West Indies.
If the Australia's selectors listen to Warne, and also to captain Ricky Ponting, who is not a selector, Australia's attack would be pacers Glenn McGrath, Lee and Bracken, spinners Warne and MacGill, and that would be an attack that is well equipped to bowl on any surface and one that could be a nightmare for the West Indies batsmen.
Another reason why it may well be wishful thinking is not only the fact that the West Indies batsmen will have to be at their best - their very best at that - to survive against such an attack on such a pitch, but also that the West Indies attack on such a pitch could be easy pickings for Australia's batsmen.
Probably even more than they were after the first day of the first Test, probably as they were when they conceded 441 runs off 87 overs for the loss of four wickets on the first day of the match against Victoria.
SPIN BOWLING
Lest it be forgotten, the West Indies attack is made up of only pace bowlers, none of whom is as good or as experienced as McGrath, none of whom bowls as fast or is as good as Lee, none of whom swings the ball as much as Bracken. It will be interesting to see them bowling on a pitch that is slow and one that favours spin bowling.
Lest it be forgotten, the West Indies selectors, in their wisdom, did not select one spin bowler in the party and although neither Omari Banks nor Dave Mohammed is as good as Warne or MacGill, by not selecting one of them, the West Indies left themselves, as the visiting team, open to the whims and fancies of the home team.
By not selecting one of Banks or Mohammed, the West Indies have no one to call on to counter Warne and MacGill, by not selecting one of them, they will have to depend on part-time slow bowlers Christopher Gayle and Marlon Samuels, and regardless of how much the pitch favours spin, remembering that neither one spins the ball, they certainly will be no Warne or no MacGill.
The West Indies need to win or draw the second Test match but the odds are stacked against them more than they were going into the first Test.
Last time, it was pacers McGrath, Lee and Bracken, spinner Warne, and the West Indies were bundled out for 210 and 129 on a good batting pitch.
This time, it could be pacers McGrath, Lee and Bracken, spinners Warne and MacGill on a pitch expected to favour spin, and if it is, if MacGill joins Warne in Australia's attack, God help the West Indies - especially if Lara and Chanderpaul do not come good.
