Tony Becca

THE THREE-match Test series between the West Indies and Australia is over, and although the West Indies lost 2-0, even though their batting depended almost entirely on Shivnarine Chanderpaul with good support from Ramnaresh Sarwan, they deserve a round of applause.

In fact, when it is remembered that hardly anyone gave them a chance, that most fans expected a 3-0 whitewash, they deserve more than a round.

By scoring 442 runs at an average of 147.33, by batting so long while carrying his bat undefeated on three occasions, Chanderpaul, facing 1,426 deliveries, carried them like Atlas - like George Headley of blessed memory, and there can be no question about that.

It is true also that Australia topped 400 runs in one innings of each Test match, and that they declared on three occasions.

In spite of that, the West Indies deserve an encore, probably even a rousing one.

And with their batting so dependent on one man, and although, in my opinion, they did not come close to winning even one match, the West Indies deserve it for the simple reasons that all three Test matches went into the fifth and final day.

On top of that, the West Indies, generally, bowled well and at times brilliantly.

Apart from their magnificent and fantastic catching in the first Test match at Sabina Park, I will never ever forget the West Indies bowling at the start of Australia's second innings when, after falling for 312 replying to Australia's 431, the West Indies cornered the Australians and had them reeling at 17 for four on the third afternoon and an embarrassing 18 for five early the following morning.

Daren Powell bowled well on that afternoon, so too did Dwayne Bravo during and after that Test match, and so too did Jerome Taylor afterwards.

Fire and aggression

I still remember the fire, the aggression of Fidel Edwards, however, and I believe I will remember it for a long, long time.

It was fast bowling that brought back memories of the days when Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft, Malcolm Marshall and company and then Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Patrick Patterson drove fear into batsmen around the world.

The big disappointment, for the West Indies, during a series which saw Matthew Hayden of Australia missing for all of it and Chris Gayle of the West Indies out for most of it, was the batting of the West Indians.

Chanderpaul apart, to a lesser extent Sarwan, also to a lesser extent Bravo, and with the exception of Xavier Marshall who, making the best use of the opportunity presented to him by the selectors and riding his luck in the third Test match, the West Indies' batting was simply pathetic.

Marshall, confident and under-lining his obvious talent, played some glorious strokes, and in that regard, and despite his three chances in the second innings of the third Test, the selectors must have felt relieved and proud.

His confidence, his strokeplay, suggest once again that, all things being equal, he could be one for tomorrow.

The performance of the others, however, of Brenton Parchment, who was dropped after the first Test, of Devon Smith and of Runako Morton, was disappointing - very disappointing, and although he was brilliant, very brilliant, behind the stumps, so too were wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin and all-rounder Daren Sammy.

Disappointing

In fact, they were so disappointing that one was left hoping, and praying, for the West Indies sake, that Chanderpaul would bat forever every time he went to bat.

Even without Hayden, the Aussie batting was good, and hats off to the Windies bowlers for competing as well as they did.

In lifting our glasses to a generally spirited West Indies team and some encouraging perfor-mances, however, it would be foolish for those responsible for the standard of West Indies cricket to brush aside the fact that but for Brett Lee and Stuart Clark, the Australian attack was ordinary, and to forget the disappointing batting performances.

They dropped from 260 for four to 312 all out in the first innings of the first Test. They lost six wickets for 52 runs, in skidding from 314 for four to 352 all out in the first innings of the second Test.

They fell from 168 for four to 216 all out replying to Australia's 251 in the first innings of the third Test match and, in losing six wickets for 48 runs, it was, for the West Indies, but for Chanderpaul, Edwards and Taylor, and even with the questionable umpiring in the second Test, business as usual.