Too close for comfort

You would not have found many pundits who would have predicted such an intense test series that just finished. 2-0 does not reflect how strongly the Windies came back at a weakened and perhaps cocky Australian line up.

And it was the Windies’ bowling which surprised and exceeded expectations, especially as their best bowler Jerome Taylor was forced home through injury and their potentially most devastating bowler Fidel Edwards was not picked to tour.

Chris Gayle, who has had a difficult year with his lackadaisical attitude to test cricket and fondness for ADHD cricket Twenty/20, led from the front, belting two centuries in contrasting fashion: His Adelaide century carrying his bat anchored the innings and gave the West Indies something to bowl at, while his Perth ton was all devastation, leaving the Australian bowlers sprawling in his wake.

Australia scored no centuries in the series, but had four batsman average over 50. The Windies had four centuries, but only two men averaged over 50 and one of them was Narsinghe Deonarine, who scored a defiant 82 in the last test to give the West Indies a sniff of victory.

A worrying aspect was that only Dwayne Bravo averaged under 30 with the ball, and Kemar Roach bowled better than seven wickets and an average of over 50 suggests, creating concern and alarm with his pace and bounce and leaving a lasting impression on the battered Ricky Ponting. In time, he will be a ferocious bowler able to tear attacks apart with more exposure to test level.

Australia will be wondering where their plans went wrong. The Windies defied them in moments they looked set to dominate, and they faltered at crucial times as they did in the Ashes this year. On that occasion, when Australia faltered, England capitalised on the unexpected advantage better than the Windies did this series.

I was not impressed with Mitchell Johnson who, despite being the leading the wicket taker in the series with 17, was comprehensively out bowled by Ben Hilfenhaus in Brisbane and by Doug Bollinger in Adelaide and Perth. His run rate of 4.33 suggests that he was unable to give the control needed by the bowling attack and when Hilfy returns, he may be facing trouble for his position, because after such an impressive performance they cannot drop Bollinger.

Pakistan must be feeling confident they can cause Australia harm in this series. Unlike the Windies, their bowling attack is impressively formidable on paper. It is their batting, particularly that of the top order, that is frail. They may struggle to confront an opening bowling combination that will hopefully be Hilfy and Doug the Rug.

And on a final aside note, Brendan Nash, who left Australia to live in Jamaica and suddenly found himself in the national team and then the West Indies team, acquitted himself greatly during the series. He scored 250 runs at 41.67, with only Chris Gayle of the West Indies players scoring more. They would not have fared as well in the series without his pugnacity and desire to fight.