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Journalism of Courage
The ball pitched on the same spot as it almost always does once it leaves Darren Sammys hand. Unlike Fidel Edwards the West Indian skipper doesnt bowl two lengths. He zones in on a good length and has the ability to hit the same spot repeatedly. Sammy doesnt have the build or the aggression or even the pace for being a genuine fast bowler. His strength,however,is to move the ball in both directions at a pace deceptive enough to induce false strokes from the batsman. That is in addition to his unrelenting patience.
It wasnt really an expansive shot that accounted for Rahul Dravid this time around though. It was rather a slight error of judgement but it proved costly. The previous deliveries the veteran had faced from Sammy had left him. In fact he had been beaten all ends up by the first one he faced on Friday,which had Dravid hanging his bat to a ball moving prodigiously away from him. But this one pitched on a length and snaked in sharply,bowling him through the gap. Not many can claim to have broken through the defences of Dravid. But Sammy had done it here at Windsor Park and quite comprehensively. Its a wicket that Sammy seemed to cherish a lot.
He has struggled to get over the simple Dravid catch that he dropped at Sabina Park,allowing the veteran to go on and score a century. The fans in the Caribbean have not let him forget it. And Sammy himself has lamented about it on a number of occasions. But he has managed to find some sort of redemption thereafter by getting Dravid out with a bouncing out-swinger in the first innings at the Kensington Oval before snaring him here in Dominica.
But when it comes to being a fan favourite,there has been no redemption for Sammy around the Caribbean. Few cricketers around the world have attracted this kind of incessant criticism in their own land,but Sammy has been facing it ever since he was named captain last year. Many have questioned his place in the side,and bemoaned about the 27-year-old right-arm medium-pacer blocking an express paceman like Kemar Roach. But though he might not have come up with the runs required to justify his role of an all-rounder in the team,few can actually doubt Sammys contribution with the ball in Tests from the time he began his career with figures of 7/66 at Old Trafford four years ago.
His average of 28.35 in 16 Tests in fact is the best amongst West Indian pace bowlers in the last decade who have picked up over 40 wickets. Its better than of Edwards,Roach and the likes of Mervyn Dillon and Corey Collymore before them. So is his economy.
Choking up the run rate
Few West Indian bowlers have managed to bowl with the control that Sammy has displayed in his career so far. And the West Indian skipper provides one element that has been lacking drastically in bowling attacks from the Caribbean ever since Courtney Walsh hung up his boots. He bowls long spells,rarely short of eight or nine overs at a stretch,and despite not being as incisive as others before him,the lanky St Lucian can choke up the scoring. Not only has he led from the front so far in the series,having bowled the most number of overs,with 29 maidens he has also kept one end quiet,allowing his aggressive bowling partners the opportunity to attack.
His 16 wickets this season are the most for the West Indies so far. And while his 5/29 against the Pakistanis to hand his team their first Test win in two years at Providence,Guyana,is the standout performance,Sammy has struck at crucial junctures against India too. The fact that 13 of those are either bowled,lbw or caught-behind dismissals is a testament to Sammys accuracy and control.
And like Dravid found out on Friday,even the batsman can underestimate the West Indian captain only at their own peril.
