Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
( LEFT )Wavell Hinds plays a defensive stroke during a net session at Kensington Oval yesterday.
( RIGHT )West Indies fast bowler Tino Best in full flight during the team's training session at Kensington Oval yesterday. - PHOTOS BY IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE SECOND and final Test of the Digicel Series between the West Indies and Pakistan opens at Sabina Park this morning with the Windies, one-up after their commanding victory at Kensington Oval, tipped to at least draw the match and win the series.
The promise is that it will be a batsman's match a match that will see the batsmen of the West Indies dominating the bowlers of Pakistan and the batsmen of Pakistan doing likewise to the bowlers of the West Indies on a pitch that should favour batsmen.
With Fidel Edwards, the pocket powerhouse of the West Indies attack, the pint-sized fast bowler who destroyed Pakistan in their first innings at Kensington, out of action due to an injury, and with Pakistan's batting, expected to be strengthened by the return of top batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq and also Shoaib Malik, unlikely to crumble as it did in the first innings of the first Test, it could be rough going for a West Indies attack that so often is so inconsistent.
Regardless of how many runs they score, however, in order to win the match and tie the series, Pakistan will have to dismiss the West Indies, not only once, not only twice, but also for low scores, and as unpredictable as the home team's batting is, as good as legspinner Danish Kaneria is, that is unlikely especially with the brilliant Brian Lara and the consistent Shivnarine Chanderpaul in top form.
THE DEADLY LEFT-HANDER
The left-handed Lara, a master against all types of bowlers, is particularly deadly against slow bowlers, and as Australia's Shane Warne found out on a number of occasions, as Kaneria found out at Kensington Oval, even more so against legspinners.
And lest it be forgotten, the West Indies line-up also includes not only Ramnaresh Sarwan, not only Wavell Hinds, and not only Devon Smith, who is better, much better, than many believe, but also the dangerous Chris Gayle the big left-hander whose powerful strokes can send the Pakistanis running for cover inside a few overs.
As Pakistan, number four in the LG ICC rankings with 102 points, and the West Indies, number eight with 73 points, prepare for a match that will not change their positions regardless of the result but one which will set off a glorious celebration if it ends in a draw or in victory for the West Indies, the question is who will line-up on either side and especially so for the West Indies.
For Pakistan it could well be batsmen Salman Butt, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan and captain Inzamam, allrounders Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq, wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, Kaneria, and pacers Naved-ul-Hassan and Shabbir Ahmed who is eligible to play despite being reported to the ICC for a suspect action.
With the news out of the West Indies camp that Bravo is still nursing the injury that kept him out of the first Test, with Ian Bradshaw fully recovered from a virus infection that probably robbed him of his Test debut at Kensington Oval, and despite a poor performance in the fourth Test against South Africa, with Tino Best still looking a better bet than Reon King, the West Indies team should read Gayle, Smith, Sarwan, Lara, Chanderpaul, Hinds, Courtney Browne, Bradshaw, Daren Powell, Best and Corey Collymore.
Kaneria could, with a little luck, make life miserable for the West Indies batsmen especially so if Lara fails to fire and if Chanderpaul's concentration fails him, Bradshaw, with his left-arm swing bowling, could also make life difficult for Pakistan's batsmen and, you never know, it could be an interesting Test match ending up with a winner.
With batsmen like Gayle, Smith, Sarwan, Lara, Chanderpaul and Hinds on one side, however, with Butt, Younis Khan, Inzamam, Malik, Afridi, Razzaq and Akmal on the other, the odds are definitely on a draw.
