Smith? or Samuels?

Sat, May 20, '06

It rained for most of Friday evening into the night in Kingston, but this morning, rain has given way to clear, if not bright sunny skies. No possibility therefore of India being caught napping as they were when the heavens opened up from Wednesday night into one hour before the scheduled start Thursday.

Greg Chappell admitted that he and his team thought that they would have had the morning off. "I think we probably allowed ourselves to expect no cricket today and maybe it took us a while to get started," said Chappell after the match. Brian Lara also thought there was "no way there was going to be cricket."

Weather not being a factor today, attention turns to the possibilities for today's second ODI between the West Indies and India . When the match gets underway at 9:30 this morning, there will be a much larger crowd on hand, given the last game where for most of it, the West Indies matched India stride for stride.

Yesterday in Kingston, conversations among cricket loyalists consisted of "if we had only..." and "you see India, they know how to run the singles and twos." Had West Indies managed to curb their appetite for extras, and rotated the strike more, Thursday's end result might have been different. With a day in between, at the insistence of the Indians, the West Indies team would have worked on the maladies which continue to plague them.

Catches, like the sitter Edwards failed to take off Bradshaw in the 35th, and the last ball of the 43rd which neither Lara or Chanderpaul took, must be taken. There should be no gifts of extra runs by the bowlers, and of course, West Indies must find the gaps more often, and improve the sprinting between the wickets.

This brings up the question of the team's composition. At the pre-series press launch, Lara said that they would not be experimenting much. "We're playing against a top team and you have to take that into consideration. If you start off on a winning note, you don't want to experiment too much," the West Indies captain said on Wednesday. That they did not start on a winning note means perhaps there is some chance of a shuffle or a change.

The most obvious might be including Dwayne Smith at the expense of Marlon Samuels. Smith's career strike rate is above a run-a-ball, his fielding is such that it can save valuable runs, and his bowling offers variation which can take wickets. India is noted for their ability to play spin and so Samuels was not the most effective against them. He also did not have a very good series against a weak Zimbabwe team. In four matches, he could manage just 15 runs. Lara lamented that in the last five overs on Thursday, his batsmen could only score 29 runs. Insert Smith and this could easily change today.

The Indian bowlers would have watched their performance in the first 15 overs and seen that they did not manage to keep the ball out of the danger zone to Chris Gayle. They may have the option to bring in the young exciting fastbowler Sreenath who was recovering well according to Chappell.

Thursday's match showed the West Indians that with a bit of modification, they can beat a team that is ranked five places above them. Perhaps the belief is what is needed more than any fielding or bowling improvement. Lara disagreed with Greg Chappell's suggestion that the West Indians have forgotten how to win. He and his team-mates therefore have something to prove today.

With the weather improving steadily this morning, and the larger turnout expected from both Indian and West Indian spectators on this weekend day, today's match in the "land of happiness" according to visiting Indian fan Sachin, is certain to be a cracker.