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Cricket swings to Calypso once again
It was an incredible Windies win over England. And perhaps one that could be the start of the resurrection of West Windies' cricket.
From the time you touch down in the British Isles, you get an overwhelming sense of grey. The skies are almost always leaden, the clothes people wear are generally either black or neutral shades guaranteed to depress you and there's a sense of mind-numbing sameness to everything.
Saturday was a typical English day. It was cold, intensely cold, there was a It was an incredible win. And perhaps one that could be the start of the resurrection of West Indies cricketnippy wind and it rained intermittently. In short, it was grey. A perfect ending to this colourless tournament.
But it was on this drab day, in conditions so dismal that sometimes it was a wonder that the ball could be seen, that West Indies kept their tryst with destiny and lifted their first world-level trophy in 25 years. It has been a long, long wait for cricket's greatest superpower to reassert itself on the world stage. Nineteen seventy-nine was almost forgotten.
And to be fair to the West Indies, they richly deserved to be champions. They have played with ebullient spirit and gritty commitment. On the way to the Champions Trophy final, they brushed aside Bangladesh (138 runs), South Africa (five wickets) and Pakistan (semi-final, seven wickets) in professional style and in the face of constant criticism from their former players.
They came into this game as the absolute underdogs and gave themselves hope with a disciplined bowling performance and some fantastic fielding. As for the English, who have displayed a rare spirit this month, they inexplicably reverted to batting like English teams of a couple of years ago on Saturday - they had no idea what was happening.
Only Marcus Trescothick stood there, batting with unhurried, calm grace unheeding of the disaster at the other end. The fact that he made 104 of a total of 217 (including 23 extras) is itself an indication of the way the rest batted. But despite this performance, they put up the kind of target that would not be easy to get, given the cloudy conditions. And the West Indies nearly lost the plot in between. The West Indies and teams from the subcontinent share a similar problem. They bat long and deep, have immense talent and are generally a joy to watch but you never quite know when they're going to go in for a collective crash.
That almost happened today. They got a couple of partnerships going, some batsmen played exquisite shots (Gayle tapping Harmison to the long on fence and then executing an uppish cut, Lara twirling on his heels and hooking Flintoff and later hitting the bowler for a scorcher through cover). And then, just as quickly, they got out, faced with a reanimated England.
Three men made all the difference. First came a man who other left-handers would be happy to disown for the way he bats - he gives lie to the general grace for which the breed is known.
Chanderpaul has one of the oddest stances in the game, he plays some ugly shots and even shuffles across every now and then. He may be unorthodox but is both gutsy and effective. On Saturday, he played an innings of superb concentration that gave the Windies a sniff of hope. The problem was that it wasn't enough. But his departure, at 147-8, brought together two men who haven't faced a ball in this tournament. With 71 runs to get no one gave the West Indies a chance. But no one had obviously told Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw that. Theirs was not a dominating stand but they didn't need to dominate. They just needed to hang in there and get the singles and the odd boundary.
That's exactly what they did. They were so set on seeing this through that they even refused the umpires offer of bad light. The English probably thought they had this one in the bag once Chanderpaul departed and that was a cardinal mistake. As Bradshaw and Browne first completed their 50 partnership for the ninth wicket, then hit the winning runs and hugged as if they could not believe what had just happened under the stormy English sky, the rest of the team poured onto the field.
It was an incredible win. And perhaps one that could be the start of the resurrection of West Indies cricket.
