Tony Becca, Contributor
THE LATEST Test series involving the West Indies is over the Windies won the first Test, even though they played better - generally, than they have been doing in recent years, they were defeated, as expected, in the three-match contest against South Africa.
Looking back at the series, the West Indies were outgunned in every department of the game, an they won the first Test, it was difficult, barring a miracle, to see them winning another one - and especially so with the injuries to captain Christopher Gayle, fast bowler Fidel Edwards and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo who could bat but could not bowl in the final Test match, and to the illness of Shivnarine Chanderpaul who could not bat in the second innings of the third Test.
There was one other reason why, in my opinion, the West Indies could not win another Test match.
Although he is not a great spin bowler, and certainly not a Shane Warne, the reason was the use of leg-spinner Rawl Lewis in the one match in which he played, and his absence from the other two, including the one which the West Indies won.
Five pacers
Although he is no Warne, even though his record up to the first Test match showed one wicket for 388 runs in four Test matches, he was selected for both the one-day and the Test series, and with three fast bowlers in Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards, and Jerome Taylor, with Bravo being a pace-bowling all-rounder and a fairly successful one at that, instead of playing Daren Sammy to make it five pacers, the tour selectors should have played Lewis.
What three or four pacers cannot do, five cannot do, and five should not have been selected - especially so when the fifth one, in this case, Sammy, batted at number eight and is not a better batsman than Lewis.
Treated like an intruder
What was interesting, however, was tha the selectors played Lewis in the second Test, the captain treated him as if he was an intruder.
In a Test match in which left-arm spin bowler Paul Harris played an important role in South Africa's victory, Lewis bowled only 12.2 and 8.2 overs while taking one for 26 and two for 42.
In comparison to the figures of Lewis, who was the sixth bowler used in both innings, Powell had figures of two for 123 off 35 overs and zero for 57 off 11 overs, Taylor two for 52 off 21 and zero for 31 off six, Bravo four for 82 and one for 34 off seven and with Edwards leaving the field after 4.5 overs for 12 runs, Samuels returned figures of zero for 18 off 8.1 and zero for 17 off three.
Those figures made no difference to the selectors who went into the third Test with five pacers and no spin bowler.
An because of the pitch, South Africa did the same thing when they dropped Harris, they could afford it. In Dale Steyn, Shaun Pollock and certainly Makhaya Ntini, they had bowlers who were good enough to nail the West Indies batsmen.
There were times when both teams were crying out for a spin bowler - especially so the West Indies when South Africa were marching on in the one innings they batted.
With Lewis sitting in the pavilion twiddling his thumbs, the West Indies attack looked pitiful.
Sometimes statistics are unreliable when comparing people or things. Sometimes, however, they are like the gospel, and as far as the selection of the West Indies team was concerned, as far as the handling of Lewis was concerned, those of the bowlers coming out of South Africa are interesting.
In the Test series in South Africa, Lewis bowled 20.4 overs, took three wickets for 68 runs at an average of 22.66, at an economy rate of 3.28 and at a strike rate of 41.30.
Apart from Bravo, who bowled 73.1 overs, took 10 wickets for 203 runs at an average of 20.30, at an economy rate of 2.77, and at a strike rate of 43.90, Taylor, however, bowled 83 overs, took nine wickets for 286 runs at an average of 31.77, at an economy rate of 3.44, and at an strike rate of 55.30, Powell bowled 103 overs, took seven wickets for 413 runs at an average of 59.00, at an economy rate of 4.00, and at a strike rate of 88.20.
Lewis no genius
Sammy bowled only 36 overs, took only two wickets for 139 runs at an average of 69.50, at an economy rate of 3.86, and at a strike rate of 108.00, Samuels bowled as much as 39 overs, took only two wickets for 139 runs at an average of 69.50, at an economy rate of 3.56, and at a strike rate of 117.00, and Edwards bowled 55.5 overs, took three wickets for 234 runs at an average of 78.00, at an economy rate of 4.19, and at a strike rate of 111.60.
Rawl Lewis is no genius, based on his record, he was lucky to have been selected for the tour, and the West Indies may not have won or drawn the Test series had he bowled more in the Test match in which he played or had he played in the other Test matches.
Once again, however, and certainly based on the figures, the handling of the spin bowler in South Africa demonstrates that to be a spin bowler in the West Indies calls for a faith similar to that of Job.
