A historic triumph

It finally happened.

In two previous trips to South Africa and nine previous test matches against the Proteas, the West Indies had failed to win a single test.

On the 1998-99 tour of South Africa, a tour affected by a pay dispute between the players and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) the West Indies, under Brian Lara, were whitewashed 5-0.

They fared slightly better on the next tour of South Africa when they were able to draw the third test match before losing that series 3-0.

It is against that backdrop that yesterday’s victory in the first test of the 2007-08 series could be considered historic.

It was not as though the West Indies had never beaten the South Africans in a test match.

They had won the inaugural test match between the two sides in that never-to-be forgotten, one-off match in Barbados in 1992 when fast bowlers Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose turned certain defeat into a memorable win.

Victory by Chris Gayle’s West Indians yesterday, however, was as unexpected as it was sweet made doubly so by the knowledge that despite the fact that there were several outstanding performers, the victory was in large measure a total team effort.

West Indies teams of the past tended to be viewed as a one-man team with the phenomenal batting feats of Brian Charles Lara overshadowing the team’s performance.

And, even as Lara announced his return to the regional circuit here in the Caribbean with the news that he will represent Trinidad and Tobago in the upcoming Carib Beer Cup, Gayle’s team threw off the shackles of the multiple record-holder showing to all and sundry that the West Indies could indeed win without Lara.

While Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s ton, Marlon Samuels’ innings of 94 and 40, Chris Gayle’s innings of 66 and 29 and the bowling of Jerome Taylor, Daren Powell, Dwayne Bravo and Fidel Edwards were the main ingredients for the victory, all the other players contributed in some way.

The win must also be placed in the proper perspective.

While the West Indies played well and were the better team over the four days, the collapse by the batsmen on the third day is an indication that old habits die hard.

It is not difficult to pinpoint why this West Indies team, a team much weaker than others which have previously toured South Africa have gone where no other team before did.

Apart from Coach John Dyson’s tactics and influence, manager’s Clive Lloyd’s general knowhow and pre-match statements about patience, and new skipper Gayle’s leadership, the factors that stood out were the discipline and application by the batsmen and the aggression by the bowlers who only sent down two wides and one no-ball in the entire match.

Their last overseas victory over a team ranked above them was in June of 2000 against England some seven years ago and to defeat the number-two ranked team in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) ranking list reinforces the belief of many cricket fans that the team whose last test victory was some 31 months ago, had not been playing to its potential.

The win by the Chris Gayle-led team and the many positive comments Gayle has received about his captaincy will certainly fuel further speculation as to who would be the captain when Sarwan does return for next year’s tour by Sri Lanka.

It is a conundrum to which the WICB selection committee will find no easy answer.

They will, however, need to look a bit more closely at the two contenders, Gayle in South Africa and Sarwan in the upcoming Carib Beer Cup to ascertain the better prospect since, to be fair to Sarwan, his captaincy was cut short almost before he even started.

But for now, the selectors and the rest of the Caribbean will want to forget all the past defeats, on and off-field wranglings, tussles with the West Indies Player Association, accusations of blunders and mismanagement by the WICB and just bask in the euphoria of that wonderful victory and hope that it heralds the start of greater things for the maroon-clad West Indies in the coming year and beyond.