Australia lose support

Australia won a crucial match against West Indies by outplaying their opponents, but they lost some supporters along the way as they cyni...

Australia won a crucial match against West Indies by outplaying their opponents, but they lost some supporters along the way as they cynically attempted to manipulate the tournament rules. Once Australia had the game in the bag they slowed the scoring rate to a crawl in attempt to keep New Zealand out of the Super Six stage, which would also result in the added bonus of Steve Waugh8217;s team carrying forward two points into the next round.

While runs weren8217;t easy to come by even before Australia pulled on the hand brake, the game was well within their reach from the moment Glenn McGrath produced an explosive opening spell. McGrath is a smart bowler 8212; he knows his action well and when something is out of sorts he8217;s able to rectify the problem quickly. Consequently, he is rarely out of form for long and he came back to his best with a bang at Old Trafford. His first victim was a tentative Sherwin Campbell, then Jimmy Adams was out next ball, prodding from the crease and being caught plumb in front. Brian Laraavoided the hat-trick, but was soon out to a magnificent delivery 8212; McGrath saving his best ball of the tournament for the maroon marauder. This is another of McGrath8217;s assets, he has the ability to lift his standard when he confronts a top-class batsman and it was no surprise when he moved a delivery from leg stump and hit the top of Lara8217;s off-stump. This continues a trend where McGrath has had the better of the duels with Lara since the 1995 series in the Caribbean.

Lara8217;s demise was effectively the end of the contest as Ridley Jacobs apart, the West Indies batting was abysmal. Jacobs fought hard and played with a lot of commonsense, while at the other end both technique and tenacity were missing. In the previous decade someone said, 8220;the West Indies don8217;t produce bad batsmen.8221; That is no longer true. Stuart Williams and Phil Simmons are way out of their depth and have been struggling for so long it is hard to believe the West Indies don8217;t have better options.

Unlike Pakistan who has had greatsuccess in blooding young cricketers and watching them blossom, the West Indies seem loath to gamble on young talent. They played Ricardo Powell in the opening match against Pakistan and when he failed, they left him out of the next game against inexperienced Bangladesh. In the same situation Pakistan would8217;ve kept faith with the young player and given him the chance to gain confidence at international level. That sort of planning for the future deserves exactly what it got at Old Trafford 8212; embarrassing capitulation.

While the West Indies batting has slipped dramatically, the bowling is still a force. Curtly Ambrose charged in and bowled brilliantly, moving the ball a long way off the seam and maintaining his usual immaculate length. A leg cutter accounted for Mark Waugh, brilliantly held by a diving Jacobs and Adam Gilchrist after a few hefty blows edged one on to his stumps. Before his ten overs were finished Ambrose added the scalp of Darren Lehmann, but Lara failed to capitalise on this wonderfulspell when he didn8217;t bolster the catching cordon and also failed to recall the other warrior, Courtney Walsh, as soon as Ambrose was finished.

However, it may have been that Lara was being equally cynical, as the West Indies8217; only hope of advancing to Super Six is at the expense of New Zealand. The West Indies don8217;t deserve to progress, so bad was the batting at Old Trafford, but if Australia do advance with two points it greatly enhances their chance of a semi-final spot. That would be a triumph for believers in the end result justifies the means.8217;