Christchurch – The West Indian cricketers made a gallant attempt towin the last match of their tour of New Zealand before 15 000spectators at Jade Stadium on Tuesday (Monday night Caribbean time)
13-Jan-2000Christchurch – The West Indian cricketers made a gallant attempt towin the last match of their tour of New Zealand before 15 000spectators at Jade Stadium on Tuesday (Monday night Caribbean time).But instead, they completed a 0-5 defeat in the One Day Internationalsand signed off their expedition as the ‘if only’ tour.A 170-run third-wicket stand from Roger Twose (97) and Nathan Astle(85) led the super-confident New Zealanders to a 50-over total of 302for six wickets.And if only West Indies had played with a little more care they mighthave done better than scoring 282 when Courtney Walsh fell to thesecond-last ball of the 50th over.So the tour finished as the international matches started: New Zealanda more thorough team in terms of scoring runs and taking wickets andgenerally organising their cricket like polished professionals; WestIndies building their tactics on too-varied selections, wrong tacticaldirections and, in the end, a comparable overall lack of experienceand skill.If only …If only the West Indies had not thought the first Test was already wonwhen they scored 282 for one on the first day.If only Brian Lara had been bold enough to bat first on an uncertainpitch, on which New Zealand lived in luxury and won the second Testwith a day and an innings to spare.If only West Indies had a better appreciation of their players’ OneDay potentials.The evidence was plain that Reon King and Courtney Walsh should havebeen the essential new-ball bowlers; that Ricardo Powell’s brilliancewould only shine in a properly prepared innings; that Lara was severaltimes guilty of casting away his wicket, and that Adrian Griffith’sform in the fifth One-Dayer last night made one wonder why he had beenleft on the batting shelf for so long.Rather too many of these ‘if onlys’ came home to roost last night, andespecially the fact that if the top half of the West Indian battinghad been well organised they might well have climbed the mountain andbeaten New Zealand, rather than fallen 22 runs short in what becameonly a gallant failure.Again, the hosts’ batting seemed the better organised, and showed theWest Indians how best to take advantage of a fast outfield and a hard,true pitch.Attacking strokesNew Zealand lost Craig Spearman very quickly and when Stephen Flemingwas caught from an untidy drive at Nehemiah Perry (making a briefearly appearance) they might have been excused if they rebuilt theirdefensive position.Instead, Twose immediately played his attacking strokes, Astle becamehis lieutenant and for the next 27 overs the two mixed their battingskilfully: strong attacking strokes among canny ones and twos.Lara had a problem when Mervyn Dillon went lame and limped through histen overs, but then got his bowling tactics mixed when he did not useKing – the West Indies’ most effective bowler on tour – until halfwaythrough the innings.Twose went at 205 for three, 97 runs from 90 balls, 11 fours and twosixes. Then spare-time slow bowler Sherwin Campbell had Astle superblycaught by Lara at 217 for four, after Astle had scored 95 from 109balls, eight fours and a six.Nimble batting by Chris Harris, Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan gotNew Zealand past the 300-mark.West Indies started badly, Ridley Jacobs hitting Cairns’ first ballfor four, and second to Twose who held the catch after some fumbling.Griffith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul batted sturdily, but Lara shouldhave been at No. 3.The pitch was easy, Dion Nash was not playing because of a backstrain, Cairns was plainly unwell and managed only four overs, for 31runs. The New Zealand bowling was ripe for plucking by a world-classplayer of Lara’s stature.Griffith and Chanderpaul did maul the early bowling, but Lara shouldhave been in eight overs before he arrived, at 58 for two.He and Griffith maintained the attack, past 100 in the 15th over. Nowthe game was in the balance, as New Zealand fell back on thesemi-defensive bowling of Harris and Daniel Vettori.But Lara and Griffith did not manage their attack expertly. At 102Griffith hit a catch from Scott Styris down Spearman’s throat at deepmid-wicket.Lara ripped the field apart with some brilliant boundaries, includingtwo to deep mid-wicket in one over from Harris. Not satisfied withthat, Lara tried for another four in the same over from the sameshot. Harris predictably bowled a little shorter, and the catch wentstraight to Twose at deep mid-on.Cool-headed tactics Adams and Campbell then dug in. They did not hit any fours, and seemedonly capable of getting ones and twos. But they scored steadily, andsafely – just the kind of cool-headed tactics that the earlier batsmenmight have used.Just when they were picking up the scoring Harris struck two criticalblows – having Adams caught with the score at 164 in his last over,and then hitting the stumps from side-on to run out Powell. This wasthe beginning of the end for West Indies, at 167 for six in the 31stover.Perry and Campbell soldiered along stoically, but West Indies lacked aboundary-hitter in the Powell mould.So the hosts gradually tightened the screws, and it became obviousthat West Indies did not have the lower-order batting firepower tochase a target rate that soared up to nine and then ten runs an over.Campbell was finally winkled out at 261 for nine wickets, his 71coming from 87 balls and containing only two fours and a six.There was a dramatic touch when Walsh put a flourish on his lastinnings in New Zealand by hitting a four and two magnificent straightsixes.But by then the New Zealand victory was a certainty, and they went onto become the only side other than West Indies (who did it four times)to make a 5-0 clean sweep of a One Day series.