Achievement without fulfillment

West Indies' loss of status in the eyes of the cricket world can be tracked in a broad way by the scheduling of their last three tours to England. Once, not so long ago, West Indies played five tests and so, as Glenn McGrath was fond of saying, they expected to win five Tests. They have not participated in such a series since 2000, when an emerging England team wrested the Wisden Trophy from them after 31 years of waiting. West Indies won the first test of that series, at Edgbaston, but lost three more that series and are still waiting for another win against England and an away victory against serious opposition. Three years ago, their share of the seven tests, all of which England won that summer, was cut to 4, while in the series just gone they retained the majority share (although almost by default due to India's wish to fit in more one-day cricket) but toured in early summer, the preserve of the weaker of the two touring sides. A second-division side, it seems, in perception as well as reality.

Test cricket may be the long-haul version of the game, played out over five days and, supposedly, 450 overs, but in reality the direction of any particular game tends to rest on the outcome of just a handful of the scheduled 15 sessions. Australia, top dog for 12 years, have made a habit of flattening opposition, but even they cannot dominate every team through 5 days (or in their case usually 3 or 4) of cricket. The great value of Gilchrist is not his ability to come in at 400-5 and blaze away, but his knack to rescue his team when, on occasion, they are slipping. Warne was the same; with the bat he seemed to succeed when all others failed, while with ball in hand he had the ability to transcend even the most insipid team bowling performance and nip out a few quick wickets to change the appearance of a game.

The rather tired line which has been trotted out at every post-match interview this series since Headingley has been that losing has become a habit for this West Indies team. And just as the hallmark of a champion team is to seize the initiative in moments of crisis, that of a struggling unit is to lose composure when somehow the chips fall their way. West Indies found themselves in such a position on Monday, having removed both Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell early to leave England 165-6 and one wicket away from exposing a tail which began with Steve Harmison. Far from being buoyed by their first position of real dominance in the series, West Indies chose that moment to produce their worst. Fidel Edwards, the only bowler in the side with any real fire, was left kicking his heels as ultimate trundler Collymore and Daren Powell at half-pace allowed Collingwood and Prior to bring England back to parity and beyond. The absurdity of the situation was crystallised by the spectacle of Marlon Samuels, heavily swathed in his entire collection of sweaters, lobbing up the cricket ball (we shan't call them off-breaks) for the English batsmen to do as they pleased. The new ball at least brought an end to that, but the sight of Matt Prior advancing down the pitch to lift Corey Collymore, a dobber from the islands said never to have produced a medium-pacer, for an effortless six, said more about the state of West Indies cricket than any of the great fast bowlers in the various commentary boxes could.

Having relinquished the initiative, the roadmap for the second innings was a predictable one: the top order disintegrated to the swing of Hoggard, Devon Smith by no means the first to be palpably leg-before preceding the demise of an enfeebled Ganga, who, if the selectors have any sense, will have played and captained his last Test. Chris Gayle entertained for a bit longer than he has tended to this series, making it past 50 for the first time before falling in customary fashion. Brim-full of talent and with an eye few in the game can match, Gayle, on his third tour of England, should be leading from the front. But with every fatal swish and swipe, the credibility of his laid-back beyond the perpendicular approach to the game, especially in the field, declines. He has been made captain of the one-day series, and it will be interesting to see how this alters his approach; as we stand, he could hardly give less to his team's cause. Then came the one partnership that West Indies have been able to rely on this series, the strong attraction between polar opposites Chanderpaul and Bravo. The latter is almost a throwback, flamboyant but with the application to match. He has seldom looked in much trouble with the England bowling and most of his dismissals were self-inflicted, a disappointment, as was his inability to go far beyond his customary 40. An electric fielder to boot, his bowling was nevertheless a let-down, 6 wickets at just under 70 was 10 fewer than he collected in 2004, although he didn't really bowl at Durham having sustained an injury. West Indies might have missed a trick in not making him captain for the one-day series; unlike Gayle, he has shown desire and will on the field of play. In the long-term, especially if Darren Sammy can continue his rise, he might consider a move up the batting order and a shift to concentrate on that side of his game; sadly for his team, there is only one other batsman on whom they can rely.

But in terms of reliability, they do not come much more sturdily built than Chanderpaul. His statistics for this series are extraordinary, yet in some way do him no justice at all. Just twenty less runs than England's most successful plunderer Pietersen were achieved in two fewer innings, while he passed 50 five times (each visit to the crease) , once more than Cook, who also had two more attempts. His two centuries were unmatched by his colleagues, who could only manage a highest score of 60 between them, while his average of 148.66 was more than 100 greater than next man Bravo. On the way, he became the first man to occupy 1000 minutes undefeated at the crease in a series for an astonishing third time in his career. With Lara retired and Sarwan quickly injured, responsibility for the batting fell uniquely upon his diminutive shoulders. Had his knee injury kept him out of more than one Test, one dreads to think how West Indies would have fared. Classical is not a word that could be ascribed to his technique, but neither is ugly. Indeed there is a peculiar aesthetic quality to his largely front-on stance, the shuffle, and the idiosyncrasies - piratical eye-patches; marking his guard with the bail; kissing the pitch upon reaching three figures in a way which, unlike Mohammed Yousuf last summer, seemed wholly unpretentious. In the face of good, occasionally excellent bowling, on pitches which varied from a bouncy, cracked turner at Old Trafford to a slow seamer at Durham and with the rest of the batting crumbling around him, he did all he could do and set himself to bat, like the greats with an unquenchable thirst for runs and unbreakable powers of concentration. Several pundits have lamented the quality of cricket in this series, and it will be remembered as another chapter in a sorry period for West Indies cricket. It should however go down in history for one man, his bat, and a 16 hour protest which shamed every other player to don maroon in the series.

West Indies can take precious little from this series: perhaps only 5 or 6 in the team have what it takes to succeed at test level, while a few looked little more than club standard. An obdurate opener is needed, while the middle-order should be alleviated somewhat by the return of Sarwan and the promotion of Bravo. Ramdin improved, and his derided keeping was not so bad considering it was his first tour of England, a notoriously difficult place to keep wicket, and where young wicket-keepers, as Kamran Akmal will attest, can hit the rocks. Fidel Edwards looks the man to lead the pace attack, especially if someone works with him over sorting out his no-ball problem. His back-up was disappointing, especially Jerome Taylor, who promised the most and delivered just 4 wickets at 90 in three tests. Daren Powell was alright to begin with, but did not take to being discarded and his batting, twice skying from horrible attempted hooks, was a prelude to some insipid bowling. Corey Collymore, alas, gave his all, but lacks so much pace and did not make up for it with accuracy, which was sporadic or lateral movement, a rarity. Bowling like a man who had been already put out to pasture, surely that is the only place for him now. But the gaping chasm in the West Indian attack was that highlighted by the stellar performances of Monty Panesar. They can probably not hope for a bowler as canny as the Englishman, but to tour England without a spinner in the party of 16, or rather to consider Chris Gayle a frontline test spinner, was folly.

But as much as West Indies could take little from the series, the same could be said of England. Despite the expected easy series victory, the lack of genuine opposition was such that there is little to celebrate. There were many landmarks; Steve Harmison's 200th Test wicket (and yes Bearders, not including that "other" test); Matthew Hoggard usurping Alec Bedser on the all-time list of English test wicket takers; Michael Vaughan rising to the top of the list of most successful captains; Monty Panesar's first 10 wicket haul, 50th test wicket and ascension into the top ten of the test bowling rankings. Not to mention Kevin Pietersen with a maiden double-century in Tests and Alistair Cook, a record number of test centuries for a man his age.

But despite all of these achievements, there was a hollow ring to the victory. Other than Andrew Strauss, who could do with a break and the rest of the summer in county cricket, all of the batsmen made runs without being much tested. Still, a few innings, notably Bell's 97 at Old Trafford and Collingwood's century on home turf were in pressure situations, albeit against bowling which rarely ranked in the threatening class. Furthermore, the lack of quality spin bowling to face meant that any flaws against slow bowling were left unexplored, with a diet of unrelenting, mediocre seam to feast on.

Still, it was good to see Michael Vaughan returning to captain, and he proved that England have missed both his purposeful leadership and elegant batting. Now freed from one-day cricket, it should only be injury which could prevent him from leading England into the next Ashes series. Further, Matt Prior temporarily put and end to the wicket-keeping debate which had tiresomely rumbled since Alec Stewart's retirement, although more taxing examinations of his ability remain, which will prove one way or another whether he is the man who can finally nail down the position. After a century on debut in fairly untesting circumstances, two innings in particular: a 40 at Old Trafford and a 60 at Durham both in support of a rearguard action proved his mettle.

On the bowling front, the series started with the seam attack in crisis, Hoggard limping off at Lord's leaving just Plunkett and Harmison, erratic to understate the case in support of the excellent Panesar. Plunkett got worse and is rightly now back in county cricket, where he needs to remain for a good season or two. Harmison, mercifully, improved, and bowled what was universally recognised as an excellent spell, reminiscent of his best, in West Indies' second dig at Chester-Le-Street. Still, the true test will be when India tour, to see if he can retain his rhythm built up over four tests or whether it is back to square one again. Depending on the operational status of his "non-serious" hernia, he may not have any more first class cricket behind him before he plays tests again, and that will prove whether he and Allan Donald have finally cracked his mental block, or whether it was another temporary resurrection. Ryan Sidebottom, a necessary antidote to Harmison and Plunkett blossomed on recall, doing what none of the left-arm seamers tried over the last 15 years or so (think Mark Illot, Mike Smith, Simon Brown) ever did by swinging the ball back into the right-hander. He also persevered in less favourable climes, and earned himself the chance to prove whether he is a long-term option. Matthew Hoggard, returning for the last test, once again proved that he is far too good for top order players wet behind the ears in seaming conditions.

But, unusually for an early-season series, it was not the seamers who dominated the bowling stakes. Before the Lord's test it had been mooted that Monty Panesar should make way for an extra seamer; but in the wake of Hoggard's injury, Harmison and Plunkett's total lack of direction and a flat pitch, Panesar shone, using what little the surface offered to lure four into his web in the first innings, with the help of bowler-friendly umpire Rauf, before rain denied him a chance to try and win the game on the last day. Not really needed at Headingley, it was on a hard, cracked pitch in Manchester where he really came into his own. Extracting turn and bounce, the chief allies of a good spinner, he was too good for a whole succession of West Indian batsmen, with the notable exception of Chanderpaul. 10 wickets in a test was the first by an English spinner since Tufnell a decade ago, while Panesar's attitude and sense of permanence suggests that the wait for the next will not be so long. On a much slower, less helpful Durham pitch, it was same again, as he swept through the middle-order to pick up another 5 wicket haul and complete the series with a bag 0f 23 at 18.69. This was his first really significant series as a test bowler, but we should probably stop short of proclaiming him as the messiah just yet. Remember that three years ago, Ashley Giles achieved a similar feat in four tests against the same opposition. Panesar has become an extremely skilful bowler, now a given in almost all conditions. A series against the Indians will prove a better barometer for his progress, while he should look forward to touring Sri Lanka in the winter.

After a winter without a test win, resuming where they left off was the most important thing for England, who looked galvanised by the return of Vaughan. Of course West Indies were weak opposition, but England still made sure they never got a sniff, taking charge of games in crucial periods of flux. The India series will be a surer test of where the team stands, but as far as Peter Moores and Michael Vaughan can be concerned, the rebuilding process after the Ashes debacle has begun and the foundations are solid.