I got an e-mail of warning from a friend associated with aviation after the first day's play in this first Test match between the West Indies and New Zealand. This guy, an avid cricket and West Indies supporter, but also a manager at one of the bigger aviation entities in the Caribbean, warned me that "one swallow does not the summer make", referring to the excellent first day performance of the West Indian batsmen. Perhaps that is why this guy is a Manager. He probably sees things far into the future.

Most of us who have followed West Indian cricket over the last several years have become accustomed to the sort of batting collapse which occurred on the second day of the Test match at Hamilton. We have seen it in South Africa, Pakistan, Australia and even in the Caribbean. Strangely, believe it or not, I was one of the many who actually believed, for once, that the West Indies would have overcome that attitude and normal result, the immediate past, to be on to better things on this tour generally, and this match, particularly. After the hype of them being comfortable, organized, positive and the show-case cohesion of the West Indies team here in New Zealand, many thought that the West Indies would have overcome the collapse jitters also. Maybe, they are too comfortable, as this was one of their worse batting collapses in recent times.

Yet, extremely ironically, the collapse itself could actually help the West Indies cricket team in the long run to come close to winning, if not actually winning, the game. Before that happens, though, perhaps an analysis of this collapse would reveal many familiar things.

When Sherwin Campbell was first out, with the score on 276, the 89th over of the innings was being bowled. By the time the last West Indian wicket was taken, Courtney Walsh being bowled by orthodox leg-spinner Daniel Vettori for no score, the score being 365, the 136th over was being bowled. Easy mathematics would reveal that the West Indies actually added 89 runs for the loss of nine wickets in a very labored 47 overs. Having ended the first day at 282-1, the West Indies made 83 additional runs on the second day for the loss of those nine wickets. In a word, they were "strangled" out.

I suppose that it could even be worse, or at least look worse, if the additions were made properly and correctly. 284 runs came from the bats of Sherwin Campbell (170) and Adrian Griffith (114). There were 8 extras, so, if my mathematics is correct, the other nine West Indian batsmen only managed to make a whopping 73 runs from their bats. It should also be noted that this list of nine includes the much touted talents of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brian Lara, Ricardo Powell, playing in his first Test, and Ridley Jacobs.

Since Jimmy Adams was left "not out", we would not include him in the debacle, per se, but he, in my mind, contributed to the final score being less than 400. Adams, as a senior batsman, simply did not farm the bowling enough, or not at all for that matter, when batting with the likes of Rose, King and Walsh.

Griffith, though he made a century, seemed to be unsure as to how long the Test would last. One this second morning, he added 11 runs in the eternity of 106 additional minutes at the crease. Only he, the captain and/or the coach would have known the plan then, if there was one, which I doubt. Chanderpaul looked as if he was struggling from the start, trying to force the pace, not suggesting that he was someone who, in the very recent past, made a double century. He looked ragged.

Lara seemed to be either trying to get things over with in a great hurry, runs or wickets, or perhaps he simply did not want to bat for a long time. As things turned out later in the afternoon, his batting attitude might justify itself. He was actually at the crease for only 18 minutes while making 24 from 20 deliveries. He could have been out to any of those 20 deliveries.

Ricardo Powell had a horrible 21st birthday and Test debut. He made no score. Obviously better things must come. Many of the readers would probably remember, I hope, that I did mention that he normally hits the ball much too much in the air now to do well in Test cricket. While I am not writing him off yet, I will say this. If he wants to make many runs in Test cricket, he will have to hit the much greater majority of his runs and strokes along the ground. Test bowlers are much too smart to allow him the luxury of hitting airborne strokes at every opportunity. He was caught at mid-on, a position which does not normally exist in one-day cricket. In Test cricket, it normally does. Enough said!!

Even Jacobs, normally as sound in aggression as in defense, looked strangely out of place on the second day. In short, the West Indies squandered a golden opportunity to make a gigantic score.

As things transpired later, the West Indies could have actually put themselves in a position to win this Test by not batting well enough in the first innings to make in excess of 500 runs. Though Chris Cairns, Daniel Vettori and Dion Nash did reduce the West Indian innings to rubble, the West Indian batsmen helped them on along the way. Luckily for the West Indies, the team they are playing against is not one of the stronger ones in the Test cricket world, especially with batting, so the West Indies will probably get away with it, despite playing so badly when the innings continued on the second day.

By the close of play on the second day, New Zealand has managed 113-3. Not a bad reply, I suppose, when coping with the fast bowling of Courtney Walsh, Franklyn Rose and Reon King, and the spin and guile of Dininath Ramnarine. Yet, the overnight score of the New Zealanders leaves them in a rather precarious position. Even if the West Indies manage to get a slim lead of only 50 runs, or perhaps the more needed substantial lead of 100 runs, on first innings, there is still enough time left in the game for forceful batting in the second innings, followed, hopefully, by some aggressive, safe and direct bowling when New Zealand bat again. At least Rose, King and Walsh looked very capable, while Ramnarine teased somewhat, and sometimes even looped a bit, no delivery more useful than the one he used to befuddle and bowl Craig Spearman with. That was a great googly, and if Ramnarine could find many more like that, it could be a short Test match.

Much is still left in this game to sort out, though. The West Indies still have to find a way to get that substantial lead on first innings. They still have to bat well in the second to set New Zealand a target to get, "safe but gettable", and then to get New Zealand out a second time. By a long way, this Test is not over yet.

Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, I feel, still has a very important part to play in this Test. Judging from their exploits in the United Kingdom after the World Cup, by beating England in the Test series, and their very worthy efforts, in a losing cause, in India just recently, New Zealand should not be underrated at all. They have the tenacity of a young team, a budding team, a learning team. Putting a win in this first Test in the hands of the West Indies will not come easy!!

© 1999