Tony Becca - FROM THE BOUNDARY THE FOURTH and final Test between the West Indies and South Africa opens at beautiful Supersport Park in Centurion tomorrow.
As it was in the first Test, the second Test and the third Test, South Africa, winners of the first two and already winners of the contest with a 2-0 lead, are again favourites to win.
This time, however, the odds are shorter much shorter. In fact, this time around, a good bet would be on a draw.
After losing the first Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg by 189 runs and the second at Kingsmead in Durban by an innings and 65 runs, after facing the possibility of a whitewash, the West Indies drew the third at Newlands in Cape Town.
With Christopher Gayle and newcomer Dwayne Smith reeling off some amazing strokes in two magnificent innings, they did so in style so much so that they are now not thinking of a draw but of victory.
According to news coming out of the West Indies camp, the players, all of them, are bubbling with confidence and, although they cannot even draw the series, they are gunning for a victory that as far as captain Brian Lara, manager Ricky Skerritt, coaches Gus Logie and Kenneth Benjamin and chief selector Viv Richards are concerned would be a fitting end to the series for a team that, according to them, has been getting better and better.
Based on the West Indies performance in Zimbabwe and in the first three Test matches in South Africa, however, the only thing that is better than before, the only thing that appears better than before is their batting, and although poor batting loses matches, but for the odd occasion, batting, regardless of how good it is, does not win matches.
What win matches are bowling, ground fielding and catching, and so far, the West Indies bowling, ground fielding and catching have been poor, very poor so poor that South Africa, with some good but far from great batsmen, have chalked up scores of 561 and 226 for six going for quick runs before declaring the innings closed, 658 for nine declared, 532 and 335 for three declared.
Looking at the West Indies bowling and fielding, the fast bowlers bowl too short, too full and too wide. They also hardly ever swing the ball, the fielders fumble too often and drop too many catches and unless they are dreamers, the bowlers, the fielders, Messrs Lara, Skerritt, Logie, Benjamin and Richards cannot be confident.
They can pray, however, and when it comes to the bowlers, even then the prayer would have to be for pacer Fidel Edwards and left-arm wrist spinner Dave Mohammed. They are the only two who seem capable of taking wickets the only ones who, if they are bowling well, if their catches are taken, can give the West Indies a chance of victory.
In contrast to the West Indies, in Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nell, South Africa have three pacers who can blow away the West Indies, and apart from the ease with which South Africa's batsmen Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis and Gary Kirsten score their runs, that along with their brilliant fielding and catching is why, despite the draw in the third Test, despite the presence of Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, and despite the performance of Gayle and Smith in Cape Town, they are favourites to win the Test match.
Once again, however, the West Indies batsmen can save the day even if Gayle and Smith are not as brilliant as they were in Cape Town. Pollock or no Pollock, Ntini or no Ntini, Nel or no Nel, Lara is there, Chanderpaul is there, Sarwan and Daren Ganga are there, and so too are Gayle and Smith.
The pitch at Supersport Park is usually good for batting, the outfield is usually fast, the boundaries are not too far away, and with Lara and company on one side, Gibbs and Smith, Kallis and Kirsten, plus Jacques Rudolph and Neil McKenzie on the other, a good bet is that so many runs will be scored that no one will win.
