By Tony Becca - From The Boundary 
GEORGE HEADLEY, the great West Indies batsman of the 1930s, was a man of few words. They were, however, words of wisdom, and one of the things he used to tell young batsmen was not to make the same mistake twice.
According to the champion batsman, any batsman can fail but good batsmen do not make the same mistake twice.
To Headley, that was the cardinal sin of batting, and if he were alive today, he certainly would have had a lot to say about the West Indies batting in India.
After plodding forward or standing in the crease and blocking, after playing across the line, after playing to leg and getting caught on the offside in the two innings of the first Test match in Mumbai, the West Indies batsmen turned up in Chennai and made the same mistakes again.
Batting first on a pitch which, admittedly, is not ideal for stroke play, the West Indies batsmen, in another approach contrary to their nature, plodded and blocked like frightened novices and once again died without a fight after fumbling and crawling to 45 for one off 30 overs at lunch.
In Mumbai, they were eclipsed for 157 and 188, on the first day in Chennai, they were routed for 167, and with the spinners, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, crippling them once again, with Christopher Gayle playing to leg and offering a catch to point, with Wavell Hinds padding up and falling leg before wicket, with Ramanresh Sarwan, after padding up time and time again, playing tentatively and then bowled through the gate, with Ryan Hinds and newcomer Gareth Breese playing without conviction and falling like lambs, and with captain Carl Hooper looking good before falling to a loose shot, it was like watching a replay of the action in Mumbai.
Apart from obvious technical weaknesses, is it that the West Indies have become punch drunk and are simply in a state of mind that they do not know what to do?
Judging by the action of the selectors in putting the team together for the Test match, that may well be the case. They also appear confused.
While there can be no question that but for a few overs on the second day legspinner Mahendra Nagamootoo did not bowl well in Mumbai, it is strange that the selectors dropped him.
It is strange for the simple reasons that they were among those who selected only one specialist spin bowler for a series in India, that they were among those who selected him instead of Dinanath Ramnarine, that despite his unimpressive performance they dropped him after one match and in doing so, went into a Test match to be played on a pitch expected to assist spin without a specialist spin bowler.
Is it that the selectors, including captain Hooper who treated him with scant respect at Sabina Park recently, have come to the conclusion that Breese, who bowls off spin, is as good a spin bowler as Nagamootoo?
If that is so, if that is the reason, even though Breese is not a quality spin bowler, even though his selection as the one spin bowler in the team underlines the weakness of West Indies bowling, then so be it.
Based on the timidity of the West Indies in recent times, however, based on the lack of confidence, and with good reason, in their batsmen, it is possible that there could be another reason. In fact, it would not be surprising if there is another reason.
Breese is an allrounder, in spite of his success as a bowler in regional competitions, he is considered a better batsman than a bowler, and it is possible that after the failure of their batsmen in Mumbai, the West Indies decided to strengthen their batting.
Quantity is never a good substitute for quality, however, a batting order that goes down to number eight has never worked for the West Indies, and although there is a second innings to come, it certainly did not work in the first innings.
Breese is smart, the strength of his bowling is that he is clever, and with a little luck he could do better than Nagamootoo did in Mumbai. His place in the West Indies team, however, should be as an allrounder, not as the spin bowler.
