da betobet： Melbourne – Another day, another city, another collapse, anotherhumbling defeat
Tony Cozieer20-Nov-2000Melbourne – Another day, another city, another collapse, anotherhumbling defeat.In what captain Jimmy Adams acknowledged is now a habit, the WestIndies succumbed to a below-strength Victoria team by an innings and63 runs with more than a day remaining at the Melbourne Cricket Ground(MCG) yesterday.Their all-out second innings 114 was their lowest total againstVictoria (known in domestic competition as the Bushrangers) on their12 tours of this vast country and their first loss to the state sincethe inaugural trip in 70 years ago, in 1930-31.It followed defeat in the opening first-class match against WesternAustralia and came three days before the first Test at Brisbane thatlooms with under-standable foreboding.A minimum of 157 overs and maximum ten-and-a-quarter hours remained inthe match when Victoria declared with a lead of 177 just before lunch.The sun shone from a cloudless sky, the pitch had shed most of itsdemons of the first day, the outfield became faster by the over andthe opportunity existed for the West Indies batsmen to spend meaningful preparation time in the middle.None did.It was all over in three hours and 46.3 overs, leaving another 18.3 onthe day and 90 on the morrow unused.The embarrassing reality is that it would have been even shorter butfor off-spinner Colin Miller’s missed return catch off Ridley Jacobsbefore he had got off the mark on his way to the topscore of 25.The ball did deviate occasionally off the seam and the probingVictorian bowlers were supported by flawless catching and by umpiringthat brought an end to proceedings by giving Merv Dillon and Jacobscaught at gully and slip off the boot.DebaclesBut it was another in the continuing succession of West Indies battingdebacles. Only Jacobs stayed longer than an hour as wickets tumbled tothe varied bowling through a combination of un-warranted strokes andno strokes at all.The senior batsmen – Sherwin Campbell, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Adams – all batted for more than three-quarters of an hourbut none for more than an hour.More distressingly, Daren Ganga and Ram-naresh Sarwan were des-patchedwithout scoring, Sarwan’s second duck of the match.Their deportment revealed that both prom-ising young batsmen had beenshorn of their self-belief in the two weeks since they joined the teamfrom a stint with the Australian Academy in Adelaide.Ganga got through two anxious overs before lunch, following thedeclaration, but had not scored from 18 balls when, bat well away frombody, he sliced a square-drive off the left-arm fast bowler MatthewInness high to gully.Sarwan arrived at 58 for three after Campbell had edged DamienFleming’s outswinger to wicket-keeper Darren Berry and Lara had pulledan innocuous short ball from medium-pacer Ben Oliver straight to widemid-on.The young Guyanese was a first-ball victim in the first innings andapproached the five balls he faced as if they were terrorist bombsguaran-teed to explode on impact.As he withdrew his bat out of the line of one on off-stump fromOliver, the ball deflected off the back of the bat and flew into thesafe hands of second slip.When Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s loose drive off Miller found cover’swaiting clutches, the West Indies were 72 for five and depending oncaptain Adams, Jacobs and the fast bowlers to at least mount a fight.They never came close.