By Tony Becca, FROM THE BOUNDARYTHE CONSENSUS going into the 2004 Cable & Wireless Test series between the West Indies and England was that it would have been dominated by batsmen, that it would have been a close contest and that the West Indies would have won it.
As it turned out, however, despite Brian Lara's historic 400 not out in the drawn fourth and final Test, it was not dominated by batsmen and with England winning the first Test by 10 wickets after dismissing the West Indies for 47 in their second innings, the second by seven wickets after dismissing the West Indies for 208 and 209, and the third by eight wickets after dismissing the West Indies for 94 in their second innings, with the visitors winning 3-0, it was far from close.
WRONG
The question, therefore, is just what happened why almost every West Indian called it not only wrong, but also so wrong? Why a set of England bowlers without much of a reputation surprised everyone and were able to destroy the West Indies batting to the extent that the team lost by such large margins even though, with 311 in the first Test and 319 in the second, England reached 300 on only two occasions during their victory run?
The answer, it seems, was one thing the pitches at Sabina Park, Queen's Park Oval and Kensington Oval.
Well-covered with grass, the pitches, all three of them, provided more pace and bounce, they were tailor-made for side-ways movement and the England bowlers bowled a consistently good line and length, they moved the ball off the seam regularly, as tall as they are, they got the ball to jump at the batsmen from just short of a length and they mixed those deliveries with good length ones beautifully.
That is the reason why the West Indies batsmen were hit so often on the hands, on the thighs, in the mid-section, and why they were bowled, leg before wicket and caught behind the wicket shortly afterwards in the matches at Sabina Park, Queen's Park Oval and Kensington Oval.
The other question is this: why did England's batsmen survive and why were their bowlers so successful and yet the West Indies batsmen did not survive and their bowlers were so unsuccessful?
SUPERIOR
The answers to that are these: England's batsmen were technically superior to those of the West Indies and on pitches like those, on pitches where survival is necessary, technique is important.
England's batsmen were also more experienced playing in such conditions than most of those in the West Indies team; England's batsmen were willing to fight, to stick around than most of those in the West Indies team; and, most importantly, the England bowlers used the conditions better than the West Indies bowlers who, as fast as Tino Best and Fidel Edwards were, generally bowled far too short and far too wide.
The importance of the pitches in the result of the series was evident in the last Test match where, on a lovely pitch, a pitch without a blade of grass, a pitch perfect for batting, the West Indies piled up 751 for five declared, and with a little luck may well have won the match.
The pitch at the Antigua Recreation Ground was not only wonderful for the attacking West Indies batsmen it was also less, much less accommodating to the England bowlers who could not get the ball to move off the seam and, as tall as they are, but for a few deliveries, could not get the ball to kick off a reasonable length.
While the pitches at Sabina Park, Queen's Park Oval and Kensington Oval were made for England, the one at the ARG was made for the West Indies and, after batting so well, after scoring so many runs, after keeping England in the field for over two days for 202 overs, just as how England won at Sabina, the Oval and at Kensington, the West Indies should have won at the ARG.
The West Indies did not win for the simple reason that with England tired and then on the run, they dropped too many catches and missed a good opportunity to dismiss England cheaply in the first innings, to really turn the screws and to leave them with too much time in the second innings in which to save the match.
There are those who believe that a pitch is a pitch, that both sides bat on the same pitch and so it does not matter. After England, thanks to pacers Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff, had won so convincingly on the grass-tops in Kingston, Port of Spain and Bridgetown, however, victory in St. John's, on a normal West Indian pitch, would have forced them to appreciate the importance of a pitch and, depending on who are playing on it on where they come from and their technique, its effect on the result of a match.
