By Tony Becca - From The Boundary 
WEST INDIES captain Brian Lara, the players and the fans are in a happy mood, and based on their performance in the last three matches of the Cable & Wireless one-day series against Australia, they deserve to be.
After losing the first four matches, the West Indies hit back to win the last three, and although they had already lost the series, although there is a difference between winning when there is not much at stake and winning when a series is on the line, it was a good performance.
It was a good performance for many reasons.
Although they had wrapped up the series 4-0 and may not have been motivated enough to pull out all the stops after that, Australia are the best in the world, they do not like to lose.
After their record of 21 consecutive victories, they certainly would not have wanted to lose three in a row, and even if they took the fifth and the sixth matches lightly, they must have gone out to win the last one.
On top of that, in winning one by 39 runs, one with three wickets to spare, and the last one with nine wickets in hand and 6.3 overs to spare chasing 248 for victory, the West Indies not only defeated Australia three times straight, but definitely in the last one, they also defeated them comprehensively.
Christopher Gayle and Wavell Hinds, Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan were outstanding, Lara's three sixes at the end of the last match was a brilliant finish, and as good as they are, although they went home with the trophy, the Aussies must be counting their luck and grateful that the West Indies batsmen did not click earlier.
In patting themselves on the back, however, the players and the fans should not get carried away. Instead, they should put things in perspective and go from there.
If, as the players and the fans probably believe, Australia did not ease up - consciously or not, the players need to look at themselves to find out why it is that they were good enough to win the fourth and last Test match - in style at that - after losing the first three, and why they were good enough to win the last three one-day matches after losing the first four.
Apart from the fact that Australia, the No. 1 team in both versions of the game, are better than the West Indies who are ranked eighth in Tests and sixth in one-day internationals, the reason is that the West Indies do not play well under pressure. Apart from trying to save a whitewash, apart from the pride that makes a team want to win even one match, there is not much pressure on the team that has already lost.
The test of a good team is winning when winning is important, and as happy as the players and the fans are, the real test starts on Saturday when the West Indies take on Sri Lanka.
That will be the start of a new series, although their batting is up and down, Sri Lanka's bowling is quite good. A good start will be important if the West Indies are to win the series and that is a good opportunity to show that they can now win when, certainly as far as the other side is concerned, it really matters.
When it comes to talent, raw talent, there is no question that the Windies batsmen are gifted. What have been lacking, however, are commitment, application, commonsense and pride in performance and most times those are more important when the pressure is on.
Sri Lanka, No. 4 in both the Test and one-day rankings, will provide the opportunity for the West Indies batsmen to show that they have matured and that they are confident enough to perform, not only when, as far as winning and losing are concerned, it does not matter but also when it does matter - when the opposition is going all out to win and still possesses the killer instinct.
