Tony Becca
FOR THOSE who believe that cricket is a batsman's game, who love to hear the sound of bat hitting ball, to see the ball racing away to the boundary or sailing through the air and then over the boundary, and for those who have little sympathy for bowlers and fielders, the Antigua Recreation Ground in St. John's was the place to be from last Friday morning right through to Tuesday afternoon.
After three matches, the Antigua Test was the last one, South Africa were two-up and already winners of the series, and but for the fact that victory for South Africa would have handed them their 100th Test win, the result did not really matter.
In other words, whatever the result, it could not change the fact that South Africa, with solid performances in the second and third Test matches, could not lose the series, and that the West Indies, with some terrible batting in those two matches and particularly so in the second innings of both, could not even draw it.
WIN BACK SOME RESPECT
After the collapse at Kensington Oval, however, the fans were hoping that the West Indies batsmen would at least win back some respect. After all, the ARG, the ground where Viv Richards hit a century off 56 deliveries, where Brian Lara scored 375 and then 400 not out, where the West Indies scored 417 for seven to win a Test match, and where the West Indies piled up 751 for five declared, was ideal for them.
No one, however, expected what happened at the ARG.
After winning the toss and batting, South Africa piled up 588 for six declared on the third morning, the West Indies then amassed 747 before they were dismissed 45 minutes before tea on the final day, at the end South Africa were 127 for one, and that means that when the Test match was over, when five days had passed, only 17 wickets had fallen two by the run out route and 1,462 runs had been scored.
MADE FOR BATSMEN
On a pitch made for batsmen, Chris Gayle scored 317 runs, A.B. de Villiers, Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo scored centuries for a world record eight in a match and with Smith and Boeta Dippenaar in the 50s when the match was called off, with a little more time it could easily have been 10.
The pitch was so good that with the West Indies using eight and South Africa 11, 19 bowlers were used in the match including deVilliers, who took his first Test wicket, and Mark Boucher who handed the wicketkeeping gloves to de Villiers and, in his first bowl in Test cricket, claimed his first victim.
Is a pitch like that good for cricket for Test cricket? It depends on what you want, or rather what you love.
If you want a contest, it is definitely not good for cricket. If, however, you really love batting not the kind of batting that calls for technical skills, for defensive skills, but the kind of batting that produces glorious strokes that is exciting, then nothing is wrong with it.
The Antiguans, for example, were ready to crucify Andy Roberts, the curator, while South Africa were batting.
When the West Indies were batting, however, they cheered like mad and especially so when Gayle was batting.
For those who believe that cricket is batting and who love batting, there was not a dull moment at the ARG - certainly not when de Villiers was batting in the first innings and definitely not in the hour before lunch on the third day when, with Wavell Hinds gone for zero, with West Indians, certainly those in the press box, wondering if the pitch had suddenly changed, Gayle stepped up, played some glorious strokes and set the pace as the West Indies batsmen, pitch or no pitch, won back some respect after the disappointments at Queen's Park Oval and Kensington Oval.
